Abstract
Iron is the most widely used metal in the world. However, hydrogen embrittlement in steels—iron based alloys—is an important issue related to the safety of our infrastructure, such as railroads and bridges. Therefore, the prevention of hydrogen embrittlement in steels is necessary. In the present study, we demonstrate two novel methods for the prevention of hydrogen embrittlement in iron: one involves the low-energy implantation of helium, which is usually an element harmful to metals, into iron, the other is inducing damage to the iron surface by ion irradiation. In general, irradiation with high-energy particles leads to metal brittleness. In the former method, the driving force for hydrogen embrittlement in iron is weakened, in the latter method, hydrogen diffusion in iron is prevented because of trapping of hydrogen atoms in the vacancies produced by the irradiation. As a result, hydrogen embrittlement in iron was suppressed by both methods.
Highlights
Hydrogen, which is the most abundant element present the universe, is known to degrade the performance of structural materials; this phenomenon is generally called hydrogen embrittlement
Damage induced by irradiation with high-energy particles usually leads to embrittlement, it is well known that the vacancies induced by irradiation can trap hydrogen atoms, and this can lead to a decrease in the hydrogen diffusion rate
The mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement in steels is not clear, it is important to prevent or reduce this phenomenon since it threatens the safety of the structural materials used in infrastructure
Summary
Experimental procedure of sample (Supplementary Fig. 1) Procedure I Procedure II Procedure III Procedure IV Procedure V Procedure VI Procedure VIIa Procedure VIIb. The yield stress and tensile strength of the H+–implanted sample were lower than that of the well-annealed sample, and decreased from 71 to 60 MPa, and from 129 to 119 MPa, respectively. Compared with the well-annealed sample, in the annealed cold-rolled sample, the yield stress and tensile strength increased (from 71 to 163 MPa and from 129 to 175 MPa, respectively) and the total elongation decreased (from 14.4% to 8.7%). H+ implantation slightly decreased the yield stress and tensile strength, but markedly decreased the total elongation of the annealed cold-rolled sample. The tensile strengths of the H+–implanted annealed cold-rolled sample and the sample irradiated with He or Fe ions before H+ implantation did not vary,. Τ2 were 181.9 and 169.6 ps in the annealed cold-rolled sample after single implantation of H, and combined implantation of He and H, respectively
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