Modeling of hydrogen diffusion in metals

Abstract

The study of the diffusion of hydrogen in metals is very important to further understand the hydrogen embrittlement of metals. To describe the diffusion of hydrogen in metals the diffusion equation deduced from Fick's law under an ideal condition has been generally used and the effect of hydrogen trapping in metals has been neglected. In the process of hydrogen diffusion through a metal, hydrogen fills the traps continuously and the fraction of the traps filled by hydrogen, which have only little effect on the diffusion of hydrogen, may be different at different places because the distribution of hydrogen concentration may be different at different places. Thus the hydrogen diffusion coefficient in the metal may also be different at different positions, i.e., the diffusion coefficient should be affected by time in a dynamic process of hydrogen diffusion through a metal. But in the previous analyses, the above fact is not considered and the hydrogen diffusion coefficient is generally taken as a constant. In the present paper a new model of hydrogen diffusion in metals in which the effect of time is taken into account is developed.