Mechanical hydrogen embrittlement

MSTMF519, Std. Methodfor Mechanical Hydrogen Embrittlement Testing of Plating Processes and Mircraft Maintenance Chemicals, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pa., 1977. 

Standard Test Method for Mechanical Hydrogen Embrittlement Evaluation of Plating Processes and Service Environments... 

Analysis methods for hydrogen absorbed in the deposit have been described (65), and instmments are commercially available to detect hydrogen in metals. Several working tests have been devised that put plated specimens under strain and measure the time to failure. A method for cadmium-plated work has been described (66) as has a mechanical test method for evaluating treatments on AlSl 4340 Steel (67). Additional information on testing for hydrogen embrittlement is also available (68). 

Certain anaerobic bacteria capable of producing hydrogen may, under special circumstances, contribute to hydrogen embrittlement of some alloys. Once again, if such mechanisms operate, they have very limited applicability in most cooling water systems. 

For many years hydrogen was considered as a deleterious impurity which deteriorates mechanical properties of materials. This is clearly illustrated by hydrogen embrittlement of ferrous metals and alloys. The main effort of the research was aimed therefore at the study of hydrogen embrittlement and at the ways to avoid it. ... 

There has been some controversy as to whether s.c.c. occurs by active path corrosion or by hydrogen embrittlement. Lack of space does not permit a full treatment of this subject here. References 14 and 15 are recent reviews on the s.c.c. of high strength steels and deal with the mechanism of cracking (see also Section 8.4). It is appropriate to discuss briefly some of the latest work which appears to provide pertinent information on the cracking mechanism. It should be noted, however, that cracking in all alloy systems may not be by the same mechanism, and that evidence from one alloy system need not constitute valid support for the same cracking mechanism in another. 

It is not subjected to hydrogen embrittlement as is tantalum, niobium and nickel alloys, and thus is able to sustain thermal and mechanical shock after exposure to gaseous hydrogen at high temperatures. 

Fig. 8.4 Mechanisms involving embrittlement of the metal, (a) Crack-tip adsorption, (b) hydrogen adsorption, (c) decohesion by hydrogen influx to dilated lattice and (d) crack extension due to brittle hydride particle forming at crack tip...

Despite considerable developments in the study of stress-corrosion cracking mechanisms in recent years, it remains difficult to draw a clear distinction between those situations which involve hydrogen embrittlement, and those... 

Despite the major technical importance of hydrogen embrittlement, and the wealth of research work on the subject, the mechanism (or perhaps mechanisms) of hydrogen embrittlement remains uncertain. Much of the book edited by Oriani, Hirth and Smialowski is concerned with mechanistic aspects of hydrogen embrittlement, and the reader is referred in particular to the summary by Thomson and Lin . 

There are several classes of test for hydrogen embrittlement, according to the application. Three general types of mechanical test can be identified, together with chemical and electrochemical tests intended to determine the hydrogen content of steels or the rate of entry of hydrogen from an environment. 

In neutral solutions the application of cathodic polarisation prevents crack initiation and this could be taken to indicate that hydrogen embrittlement is not the operative mechanism, since the discharge and entry of hydrogen might be expected to fracture the specimen more readily. The beneficial effect of cathodic polarisation has been interpreted , however, to result from more rapid film repair in the alkaline catholyte generated by the cathode reaction. The film serves as a barrier to rapid hydrogen entry. Consistent with this is the observation that in an environment of low pH (e.g. 10 N HCl) where film formation would not be expected, cathodic polarisation has no effect upon crack propagation. 

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