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The role of hydrogen in corrosion fatigue of high purity Al-Zn-Mg exposed to water vapor

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Abstract

Corrosion fatigue tests were performed on samples of a high purity Al-Zn-Mg alloy in humid nitrogen gas after pre-exposure to either vacuum or humid air. The results of these tests were compared to the results of fatigue tests performed in dry nitrogen, used as an inert reference environment, after the same pre-exposure treatments. The pre-exposure times were calculated by assuming that bulk diffusion of hydrogen was the rate limiting process in either hydrogen adsorption or desorption. Water vapor in the testing environment resulted in reduced fatigue lives; however, pre-exposure to humid air was just as detrimental as water vapor in the test environment. The pre-exposure embrittlement effect of humid air was found to be completely reversible when the samples were stored in a vacuum long enough to remove hydrogen, assuming a bulk diffusion coefficient of 1 x 10-13 m2/sec. These results confirm the hypothesis that the reduced fatigue lives of Al-Zn-Mg alloys in water vapor is due to hydrogen embrittlement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Materials Science and Engineering, National Bureau of Standards, 20899, Gaitherburg, MD

    R. E. Ricker (Metallurgist)

  2. Department of Materials Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 12181, Troy, NY

    D. J. Duquette (Professor)

Authors
  1. R. E. Ricker
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  2. D. J. Duquette
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Ricker, R.E., Duquette, D.J. The role of hydrogen in corrosion fatigue of high purity Al-Zn-Mg exposed to water vapor. Metall Trans A 19, 1775–1783 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02645146

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02645146

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