Scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy study on the behavior of hydrogen transport by mobile dislocations in single crystal nickel

Abstract

There was always a controversy about if the mobile dislocations generated during plastic deformation could transport hydrogen atoms. In this study, the behavior of dislocation migration hydrogen was directly observed by combining the scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPFM) technique and slow tensile test. The quantitative analysis results revealed that the behavior of dislocation transport hydrogen could not accelerate hydrogen atom migration, while could achieve the uphill transport of hydrogen atoms. In addition, in this study, SKPFM has been confirmed to be a powerful tool for measuring hydrogen diffusion coefficient in materials with a high accuracy.