Hydrogen absorption of pure aluminum by friction of the surface in water and its effect on tensile properties

Abstract

In the present study, a new method for hydrogen charging in aluminum was developed which named friction in water (FW) process. The hydrogen charging was carried out by polishing aluminum surfaces for 1 h with a silicon carbide emery paper in water at room temperature. For comparison, hydrogen-uncharged specimens were also prepared. The total amount of hydrogen in aluminum clearly increased after the FW process, during which hydrogen was generated by the chemical reaction between water and the non-oxide coated aluminum. After hydrogen charging by the FW process, aluminum showed a decrease in ductility in conventional strain rate tensile testing. Hydrogen microprint technique (HMT) revealed that hydrogen atoms absorbed by the FW process was diffused to the opposite surface in the thickness direction.