Abstract
Strong and ductile materials that have high resistance to corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement are rare and yet essential for realizing safety-critical energy infrastructures, hydrogen-based industries, and transportation solutions. Here we report how we reconcile these constraints in the form of a strong and ductile CoNiV medium-entropy alloy with face-centered cubic structure. It shows high resistance to hydrogen embrittlement at ambient temperature at a strain rate of 10−4 s−1, due to its low hydrogen diffusivity and the deformation twinning that impedes crack propagation. Moreover, a dense oxide film formed on the alloy’s surface reduces the hydrogen uptake rate, and provides high corrosion resistance in dilute sulfuric acid with a corrosion current density below 7 μA cm−2. The combination of load carrying capacity and resistance to harsh environmental conditions may qualify this multi-component alloy as a potential candidate material for sustainable and safe infrastructures and devices.
Highlights
Strong and ductile materials that have high resistance to corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement are rare and yet essential for realizing safety-critical energy infrastructures, hydrogen-based industries, and transportation solutions
We present an equiatomic CoNiV MEA, which maintains its good mechanical performance under the impact of hydrogen, i.e., the material under investigation shows no obvious hydrogen embrittlement at a temperature of 300 K and a strain rate of 10−4 s−1, and it has good corrosion resistance when exposed to acidic environments
The comparison reveals that the CoNiV MEA shows a good strength–ductility relation combined with high resistance to corrosion
Summary
Strong and ductile materials that have high resistance to corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement are rare and yet essential for realizing safety-critical energy infrastructures, hydrogen-based industries, and transportation solutions. We present an equiatomic CoNiV MEA, which maintains its good mechanical performance under the impact of hydrogen, i.e., the material under investigation shows no obvious hydrogen embrittlement at a temperature of 300 K and a strain rate of 10−4 s−1, and it has good corrosion resistance when exposed to acidic environments. This property synergy, balancing strength, ductility, corrosion, and hydrogen embrittlement, is realized by four main effects: The alloy’s solid solution hardened single face-centered cubic (f.c.c.) phase structure, devoid of any precipitations, provides both, (1) low hydrogen diffusivity and (2) absence of local electrochemical potential gradients. The surface oxide film can further reduce the hydrogen embrittlement by lowering the rate of hydrogen uptake on the surface
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