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Atomistic Investigation of the Role of Grain Boundary Structure on Hydrogen Segregation and Embrittlement in α-Fe

  • Symposium: Environmental Damage in Structural Materials under Static/Dynamic Loads at Ambient Temperature
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Abstract

Material strengthening and embrittlement are controlled by complex intrinsic interactions between dislocations and hydrogen-induced defect structures that strongly alter the observed deformation mechanisms in materials. In this study, we reported molecular statics simulations at zero temperature for pure α-Fe with a single H atom at an interstitial and vacancy site, and two H atoms at an interstitial and vacancy site for each of the 〈100〉, 〈110〉, and 〈111〉 symmetric tilt grain boundary (STGB) systems. Simulation results show that the grain boundary (GB) system has a smaller effect than the type of H defect configuration (interstitial H, H-vacancy, interstitial 2H, and 2H-vacancy). For example, the segregation energy of hydrogen configurations as a function of distance is comparable between symmetric tilt GB systems. However, the segregation energy of the 〈100〉 STGB system with H at an interstitial site is 23 pct of the segregation energy of 2H at a similar interstitial site. This implies that there is a large binding energy associated with two interstitial H atoms in the GB. Thus, the energy gained by this H-H reaction is ~54 pct of the segregation energy of 2H in an interstitial site, creating a large driving force for H atoms to bind to each other within the GB. Moreover, the cohesive energy values of 125 STGBs were calculated for various local H concentrations. We found that as the GB energy approaches zero, the energy gained by trapping more hydrogen atoms is negligible and the GB can fail via cleavage. These results also show that there is a strong correlation between the GB character and the trapping limit (saturation limit) for hydrogen. Finally, we developed an atomistic modeling framework to address the probabilistic nature of H segregation and the consequent embrittlement of the GB. These insights are useful for improving ductility by reengineering the GB character of polycrystalline materials to alter the segregation and embrittlement behavior in α-Fe.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. A.K. Vasudevan and Dr. W. Mullins from the Office of Naval Research for providing insights and valuable suggestions. This article is based on the study supported by the Office of Naval Research under contract No. N000141110793. MAT would like to acknowledge the support provided by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC05-76RL01830. The authors also appreciate the support provided by the Fulton High Performance Computing at Arizona State University for enabling the authors to conduct part of the simulations for the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Kiran N. Solanki (Assistant Professor) & Mehul A. Bhatia (Graduate Research Assistant)

  2. Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, 200 Research Blvd., Starkville, MS, 39759, USA

    Mark A. Tschopp (Assistant Research Professor) & Nathan R. Rhodes (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

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  1. Kiran N. Solanki
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Correspondence to Kiran N. Solanki.

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Manuscript submitted April 2, 2012.

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Solanki, K.N., Tschopp, M.A., Bhatia, M.A. et al. Atomistic Investigation of the Role of Grain Boundary Structure on Hydrogen Segregation and Embrittlement in α-Fe. Metall Mater Trans A 44, 1365–1375 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-012-1430-z

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