The antagonism between strength and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement in metallic materials is an intrinsic obstacle to the design of lightweight yet reliable structural components operated in hydrogen-containing environments. Economical and scalable microstructural solutions to this challenge must be found. Here, we introduce a counterintuitive strategy to exploit the typically undesired chemical heterogeneity within the material’s microstructure that enables local enhancement of crack resistance and local hydrogen trapping. We use this approach in a manganese-containing high-strength steel and produce a high dispersion of manganese-rich zones within the microstructure. These solute-rich buffer regions allow for local micro-tuning of the phase stability, arresting hydrogen-induced microcracks and thus interrupting the percolation of hydrogen-assisted damage. This results in a superior hydrogen embrittlement resistance (better by a factor of two) without sacrificing the material’s strength and ductility. The strategy of exploiting chemical heterogeneities, rather than avoiding them, broadens the horizon for microstructure engineering via advanced thermomechanical processing.

金属材料的强度和抗氢脆性之间的对抗是设计在含氢环境中运行的轻质但可靠的结构部件的内在障碍。必须找到应对这一挑战的经济且可扩展的微结构解决方案。在这里，我们引入了一种违反直觉的策略来利用材料微观结构中通常不需要的化学异质性，从而能够局部增强抗裂性和局部氢捕获。我们在含锰高强度钢中使用这种方法，并在微观结构中产生高度分散的富锰区。这些富含溶质的缓冲区允许对相稳定性进行局部微调，阻止氢引起的微裂纹，从而中断氢辅助损伤的渗透。这导致了优异的抗氢脆性（好两倍），而不会牺牲材料的强度和延展性。利用化学异质性而不是避免它们的策略通过先进的热机械加工拓宽了微观结构工程的视野。