ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Hydrogen embrittlement ? quantification of H ahead of a crack tip to understand a crucial challenge for high strength steels

Abstract: This proposal targets the phenomenon of hydrogen embrittlement (HE). HE is one of the main challenges in the development of next generation high-strength steels and is widely acknowledged to be a very complex and poorly understood materials phenomenon. To a large part, this is because hydrogen (H) is extremely hard to detect in situ. We aim to significantly improve the ability to detect, and model, H in steel by systematically developing the experimental techniques to fully exploit the potential of neutron imaging and diffraction in this field. In a previous experimental campaign at ILL's NeXT, we designed an experimental setup using a mobile load frame to electrochemically charge a high-strength martensitic steel specimen under mechanical loading to image the specimen while maintaining the load. Our in-situ neutron radiography data showed an increased attenuation signal (2.5%, corresponding to ~78ppm.wt H locally). While promising, an unintended and significantly different crack growth rendered the data interpretation ambiguous. In this proposed experiment at IMAT, we will use a setup that ensures conventional crack growth and employ improved background reduction and scattering corrections. We will focus on systematic changes to the protocol to quantify hydrogen. Additionally, we will use time-of-flight to obtain higher precision results and strain maps via Bragg edge analysis.

Experimenter: Dr Xiaoqi Yue
Experimenter: Dr Lisa Lautrup
Experimenter: Dr Irina Stefanescu
Experimenter: Mr Alexander Wolfertz
Local Contact: Dr Winfried Kockelmann
Experimenter: Dr Robin Woracek
Experimenter: Dr Adrian Losko
Experimenter: Dr Thawatchart Chulapakorn
Experimenter: Dr Carl Dahlberg
Experimenter: Dr Ulf Henrik Kivisäkk
Experimenter: Mr Domenico Battaglia
Experimenter: Mr Philip Vestin
Experimenter: Mr Tim Fischer
Experimenter: Dr Nikolay Kardjilov
Experimenter: Mrs Eva Schlautmann
Experimenter: Dr Nicholai Mauritzson
Experimenter: Dr Nathaly Andrea De La Rosa Ramirez
Experimenter: Professor Jinshan Pan
Experimenter: Mr David Lindblom
Experimenter: Dr Manuel Morgano
Experimenter: Mr Rafhayudi Jamro
Experimenter: Dr Oriol Sans Planell
Experimenter: Dr Monika Hartl
Experimenter: Dr Alice Corani

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2320208

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2320208

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Xiaoqi Yue et al; (2023): Hydrogen embrittlement ? quantification of H ahead of a crack tip to understand a crucial challenge for high strength steels, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2320208

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.