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Interpretation of hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation in BCC iron based on dislocation structure evolution around the crack wake

Abstract

A new model for hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack growth (HAFCG) in BCC iron under a gaseous hydrogen environment has been established based on various methods of observation, i.e., electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), to elucidate the precise mechanism of HAFCG. The FCG in gaseous hydrogen showed two distinguishing regimes corresponding to the unaccelerated regime at a relatively low stress intensity factor range, ΔK, and the accelerated regime at a relatively high ΔK. The fracture surface in the unaccelerated regime was covered by ductile transgranular and intergranular features, while mainly quasi-cleavage features were observed in the accelerated regime. The EBSD and ECCI results demonstrated considerably lower amounts of plastic deformation, i.e., less plasticity, around the crack path in the accelerated regime. The TEM results confirmed that the dislocation structure immediately beneath the crack in the accelerated regime showed significantly lower development and that the fracture surface in the quasi-cleavage regions was parallel to the {100} plane. These observations suggest that the HAFCG in pure iron may be attributed to “less plasticity” rather than “localized plasticity” around the crack tip.
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Category

Academic article

Language

English

Author(s)

  • Domas Birenis
  • Yuhei Ogawa
  • Hisao Matsunaga
  • Osamu Takakuwa
  • Junichiro Yamabe
  • Øystein Prytz
  • Annett Thøgersen

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Industry / Sustainable Energy Technology
  • University of Oslo
  • Japan
  • Kitakyushu University

Year

2018

Published in

Acta Materialia

ISSN

1359-6454

Volume

156

Page(s)

245 - 253

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository