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Understanding Mechanisms and Kinetics of Environmentally Assisted Cracking

Mechanismen und Kinetik der von der Umwelt beeinflussten Rissbildung

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Abstract

This paper reviews the evidence for an adsorption-induced dislocation-emission (AIDE)/void-coalescence mechanism of liquid-metal embrittlement (LME), hydrogen embrittlement (HE), stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), and corrosion fatigue (CF) in some specific material-environment systems, where cleavage-like or intergranular cracking (or both) occurs in normally ductile materials. Embrittling species (which weaken substrate interatomic bonds at crack tips) include some metal atoms, hydrogen (on the crack-tip surface and at very-near-surface interstitial sites), and complex ions produced by de-alloying. Decohesion due to bond-weakening across grain boundaries associated with adsorbed or segregated hydrogen, in conjunction with segregated impurities, may also occur in some systems. The often-cited hydrogen-enhanced localised-plasticity (HELP) mechanism, based on solute hydrogen facilitating dislocation activity in the plastic zone ahead of cracks, appears to play little (if any) role in cleavage-like and intergranular cracking, and evidence supporting this view is summarised.

Zusammenfassung

In diesem Beitrag werden die Hinweise auf eine Adsorptionsinduzierte Versetzungsemission (AIDE)/Fehlstellen-Koaleszenz-Mechanismus bei der Flüssigmetall-Versprödung (LME), der Wasserstoffversprödung (HE), der Spannungsrisskorrosion (SCC) und der Korrosionsermüdung (CF) in einigen spezifischen Material-Umwelt-Systemen untersucht, in denen Quasi-Spaltbruch oder interkristalline Rissbildung bei normalerweise duktilen Werkstoffen auftreten. Zu den versprödenden Spezies, welche die interatomaren Bindungen an Rissspitzen schwächen, gehören einige Metallatome, Wasserstoff (auf der Rissspitzenoberfläche und an sehr oberflächennahen Zwischengitterplätzen) und durch Legierungsauflösung produzierte Komplexionen. Dekohäsion aufgrund von Bindungsschwächung über Korngrenzen verbunden mit adsorbiertem oder getrenntem Wasserstoff, in Verbindung mit geseigerten Verunreinigungen, kann auch in einigen Systemen auftreten. Der oft zitierte Wasserstoff-unterstützte lokalisierte Plastizitäts-Mechanismus (HELP), der darauf basiert, dass gelöster Wasserstoff in der plastischen Zone vor der Rissspitze die Versetzungsbewegung erleichtert, scheint wenig (wenn überhaupt eine) Rolle bei Quasi-Spaltbruch oder interkristalliner Rissbildung zu spielen. Argumente für diese Sicht werden zusammengefasst.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Science & Technology, Melbourne, Australia

    Stan Lynch

  2. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Stan Lynch

  3. International School of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

    Stan Lynch

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  1. Stan Lynch
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Correspondence to Stan Lynch.

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The literature on environmentally assisted cracking is voluminous, and a more comprehensive list of references than below can be found in reviews [1–5].

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Lynch, S. Understanding Mechanisms and Kinetics of Environmentally Assisted Cracking. Berg Huettenmaenn Monatsh 161, 3–18 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00501-016-0448-8

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