Precipitation strengthened austenitic stainless steels are widely used in hydrogen related applications. However, their applications may face hydrogen damage resulting in hydrogen-induced delayed failure. Results show that the weld is more sensitive to fracture and hydrogen-induced failure than the matrix. High density curved dislocations, abundant of large size precipitates and considerable gamma ' precipitates coarsening are found in the weld. Large size precipitates are found to be major hydrogen traps and preferential microcrack nucleation sites. The gamma ' precipitates coarsening make the weld more ductile than the matrix. With the decrease of the applied stress, hydrogen-induced cracking mechanism in the weld changes from brittle transgranular fracture to brittle intergranular fracture. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.