Existing state of hydrogen in electrochemically charged commercial-purity aluminum and its effects on tensile properties

Abstract

Hydrogen was introduced in commercial-purity (99%) aluminum by electrochemical charging to study the existing state of hydrogen and its effects on the mechanical properties of aluminum. Electrochemical charging was conducted in an aqueous H2SO4 solution with 0.1% NH 4SCN as a hydrogen recombination poison. The potential and pH during the charging were determined from the immune, passive, and corrosive regions in the Pourbaix diagram to determine the optimum conditions for the charging. The maximum amount of hydrogen absorbed was obtained in the immune region. The amount of hydrogen and its existing state were examined using hydrogen desorption curves, which were obtained by thermal desorption spectroscopy. The curves showed distinctive peaks corresponding to trapping sites of hydrogen in the material. One of the peaks was observed at approximately 100°C, and it corresponds to vacancies and dislocations in the material; another peak was observed at approximately 400°C and it corresponds to molecular hydrogen in blisters. It was presumed that charged hydrogen diffuses into the bulk of the material to form hydrogen-vacancy pairs, and then these pairs cluster to form blisters. The fracture strain of charged aluminum in the immune region decreased with decreasing strain rate, showing an inverse dependence on the fracture strain of the uncharged material. This phenomenon was considered to be caused by hydrogen transport by dislocations through the interaction between hydrogen and dislocations. The phenomenon was further confirmed by the observation of hydrogen release during tensile deformation, where the amount of hydrogen was high in the strain rate range where the interaction between dislocations and hydrogen was prominent. © 2011 The Japan Institute of Metals.