Hydrogen Diffusion Mechanism Research Articles

First-principles study of hydrogen trapping and diffusion mechanisms in vanadium carbide with connecting carbon vacancies

Understanding the trapping and diffusion mechanism of hydrogen in vanadium carbide (VC) precipitates is crucial for exploring the issue of hydrogen embrittlement in steel. Although there is widespread consensus that VC can trap hydrogen, the mechanism by which hydrogen diffuses into VC is still unclear. In this study, we used first-principles calculation methods to study the influence of different spacings of carbon vacancies on the trapping and diffusion of hydrogen in VC. The increase in the number of C vacancies makes it easier for vacancies to trap hydrogen, and hydrogen tend to fill up C vacancies. The diffusion of hydrogen into VC only occurs via neighboring C vacancies at a distance of 0.295 nm (connecting vacancies), leading to a diffusion barrier of 0.63–0.78 eV. This is consistent with experimental results and validates the experimental speculation that the diffusion of hydrogen in VC requires a connecting C vacancy grid.

Hydrogen diffusion mechanisms in the 4130X steel: An integrated study with electrochemical experiments and molecular dynamics simulations

In this work, hydrogen diffusion behavior and mechanisms in the 4130X steel influenced by temperature, locally high concentration, and grain boundary were studied by leveraging both electrochemical hydrogen permeation experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. It was revealed that the hydrogen diffusion coefficient of the 4130X steel was increased with increasing temperature and decreasing locally high hydrogen concentration. The grain boundaries with misorientation below 15° characterized by an electron backscatter diffraction map were identified as hydrogen trapping sites, thus rendering a lower mean square displacement of hydrogen atoms and localized hydrogen diffusion trajectories. Furthermore, at a high hydrogen concentration of 4 at. %, these grain boundaries were saturated by hydrogen atoms, and platelet-like hydrogen clusters were formed within the lattice, which further inhibited the diffusive motion of hydrogen atoms. These findings would deepen our understanding of hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms by establishing the connections between macroscopic permeation behavior and atomic-scale hydrogen diffusion in structural materials.

Mechanical and diffusion property and multi-objective optimization of rubber seals exposed to high-pressure hydrogen gas.

As the critical components in hydrogen refueling, storage, and transportation systems, the degradation and failure of rubber O-ring seals under a high-pressure (HP) hydrogen environment (up to 100 MPa) directly affect hydrogen energy safety. Clarifying the interaction mechanism of hydrogen diffusion and the mechanical properties of rubber seals is essential for HP hydrogen infrastructure. A hydrogen diffusion-mechanical sequential numerical model is built to investigate the sealing performance and hydrogen diffusion behaviors of rubber seals using ABAQUS software. The effects of hydrogen swelling environmental pressure (5∼100 MPa) and stress-concentration gradient on mechanical and contact characteristics and hydrogen concentration distribution are analyzed for the rubber seals with/without backup rings, respectively. Furthermore, the orthogonal experimental and comprehensive frequency analysis methods are employed to evaluate the significance of the main structural and assembly parameters and obtain the optimal schemes of the rubber seals under the HP environment. The results show that the stress concentration and rubber extrusion easily occur at the sealing clearance of the O-rings with swelling after pre-compression and pressurization. The hydrogen diffusion of the O-ring is mainly driven by the concentration difference and stress gradient, with the former being the dominant factor. With the increase in the hydrogen pressure, the effective sealing rate along the sealing surface decreases sharply, and the non-uniformity of hydrogen concentration and the possibility of fatigue damage in the rubber O-rings increase. Two multi-objective optimization schemes (Ⅰ and Ⅱ) for the main structural and assembly parameters of rubber seals are obtained by intuitive analysis and comprehensive frequency analysis to improve the extrusion tendency and sealing reliability of rubber seals in the HP hydrogen environment.

Applied electric field to repair metal defects and accelerate dehydrogenation

Repairing metal micro-defects at the atomic level is very challenging due to their random dispersion and difficulty in identification. At the same time, the interaction of hydrogen with metal may cause hydrogen damage or embrittlement, endangering structural safety. As a result, it is critical to speed up the dehydrogenation of hydrogen-containing materials. The applied electric field can repair the vacancy defects of the material and accelerate the dehydrogenation of the hydrogen-containing metal. The influence of the external environment on the diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in polycrystalline metals was researched using molecular dynamics in this article, and the mechanism of hydrogen diffusion was investigated. Simultaneously, the mechanical characteristics of Fe3Cr alloy were compared during typical heat treatment and electrical treatment. The effect of temperature, electric field strength, and electric field direction on the diffusion coefficient was investigated using orthogonal test analysis. The results demonstrate that temperature and electric field strength have a significant impact on the diffusion coefficient. The atom vibrates violently as the temperature rises, breaking past the diffusion barrier and completing the atomic transition. The addition of the electric field adds extra free energy, decreases the atom’s activation energy, and ultimately enhances the atom’s diffusion coefficient. The repair impact of vacancy defects under electrical treatment is superior to that of typical annealing treatment for polycrystalline Fe3Cr alloy. The electric field can cause the dislocation to migrate, increasing the metal’s toughness and plasticity. This research serves as a useful reference for the electrical treatment of metal materials and offers a method for the quick dehydrogenation of hydrogen-containing materials.

Hydrogen Impact: A Review on Diffusibility, Embrittlement Mechanisms, and Characterization.

Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is a broadly recognized phenomenon in metallic materials. If not well understood and managed, HE may lead to catastrophic environmental failures in vessels containing hydrogen, such as pipelines and storage tanks. HE can affect the mechanical properties of materials such as ductility, toughness, and strength, mainly through the interaction between metal defects and hydrogen. Various phenomena such as hydrogen adsorption, hydrogen diffusion, and hydrogen interactions with intrinsic trapping sites like dislocations, voids, grain boundaries, and oxide/matrix interfaces are involved in this process. It is important to understand HE mechanisms to develop effective hydrogen resistant strategies. Tensile, double cantilever beam, bent beam, and fatigue tests are among the most common techniques employed to study HE. This article reviews hydrogen diffusion behavior, mechanisms, and characterization techniques.

Research on hydrogen leakage and diffusion mechanism in hydrogenation station

As a clean, efficient and sustainable energy carrier, hydrogen energy has been accepted as one of the main directions of future energy development. In this paper, a hydrogenation station providing compressed hydrogen outside was adopted as the research object. Based on finite element method and virtual nozzle model, the influence of leakage of main equipment in hydrogenation station on the distribution of combustible hydrogen was investigated, including hydrogen storage tank group, tube trailer, compressor chamber and hydrogenator. The results showed that the shape and volume of the combustible hydrogen cloud generated by the leak were influenced by obstacles, hydrogen storage pressure, and wind velocity. The disturbance of external wind and the decrease in hydrogen storage pressure will have a positive impact on the reduction of leaked volume. The diffusion of combustible hydrogen clouds can be exacerbated by complex structure of obstacles, while partition wall in the adopted hydrogenation station model can limit the combustible hydrogen cloud in the process area. These conclusions can provide guidance and reference for the risk prevention measures of hydrogenation station.

Structural insight into nanoscale inhomogeneity of electrical properties in highly conductive polycrystalline ZnO thin films doped using methane

Recently, methane has been demonstrated as an effective n-type dopant for ZnO thin films deposited using the RF-magnetron sputtering method. It was shown that the major electrical doping effect of methane is caused by hydrogen released during methane decomposition. This work investigates the origin of the observed increase in conductivity of methane-doped ZnO films with the increase in thickness. The study is aimed at describing the nature of this thickness-dependent effect through a detailed analysis of the thickness-dependent morphology and crystalline structure. A combination of structural, electrical, and optical characterization revealed a transition from fine-grained films with a random orientation at early stages to partially (002)-textured films with columnar grains at later stages of growth. It is demonstrated that grain/sub-grain boundaries increase the electrical conductivity and that the contribution of such buried inner boundaries increases with increasing thickness. It is proposed that hydrogen diffuses along the grain and sub-grain boundaries during growth, leading to continuous doping of the buried interfaces. This hydrogen diffusion mechanism results in an apparent ‘additional doping’ of thicker films. The results provide new insights into the thickness-dependent conductivity of doped polycrystalline ZnO films mediated by hydrogen diffusion along internal interfaces.

Hydrogen diffusion in zirconium hydrides from on-the-fly machine learning molecular dynamics

Reactor pressure vessels and fuel cladding tubes have repeatedly failed due to zirconium hydrides. Zirconium hydride precipitation and growth are directly affected by hydrogen atom transport properties, which would make nuclear fuel storage less safe over long periods of time. Herein, we employ first-principles calculations to investigate the hydrogen diffusion mechanism in zirconium hydrides, utilizing on-the-fly machine learning force field molecular dynamics. It is verified that the machine learning force field can accurately describe the hydrogen atomic diffusion properties in zirconium hydrides at several temperatures and compositions. The atomic migration paths of hydrogen in zirconium hydrides as well as their barriers and pre-factors are also calculated. According to our results, the temperature and composition of zirconium hydrides affect the microscopic dynamical behavior of hydrogen.

Effects of chemisorption impurities on hydrogen diffusion mechanism from Pd(100) surface into subsurface

The impurities exhibit a remarkable impact on adsorption, absorption, and diffusion behavior of hydrogen on catalyst surface, and prompt an essential ongoing challenge on security and development strategy in hydrogen production, separation, purification, and utilization. Given this, S and CO impurities accompanied with or without atomic hydrogen, i.e. S, S + H, CO, and CO + H, were focused to discreetly elucidate their influences on microscopic mechanism for hydrogen travelling into Pd(100) subsurface in terms of spatial orientations and distinct coverages. All viable minimum energy pathways were thoroughly explored by climbing image nudged elastic band method, in which substrate relaxation and reconstruction effects were considered. Quantum results manifest that S or CO overwhelmingly changes structural and electrical properties of metal surface, and thus facilitates hydrogen diffusion, except for ones on H3 site at 0.25 ML coverage. Whereas, H in both S + H and CO + H shows inhibition effect by increasing barrier and blocking active surface site.

Explainable machine learning to uncover hydrogen diffusion mechanism in clinopyroxene

Estimating the water content of mantle-derived magma using clinopyroxene (cpx) phenocrysts serves as a valuable constraint on the water budget in deep Earth. Intricate magma processes and the high hydrogen diffusion rate necessitate careful evaluations of whether the water content in cpx preserves its original state. Machine learning (ML) has been utilized to develop a classifier for judging hydrogen diffusion in cpx. Nevertheless, the opaqueness and complexity of most ML models hinder a clear understanding of their classification principles. To elucidate the mechanistic basis of the ML model, the Shapley theory is integrated to determine the contributions of major elements of cpx as features in a linear additive manner. This study achieves superior classification performance using an extreme gradient boosting model and innovatively presents a quantitative evaluation of feature importance at the sample level for each observation. The results indicate that Na plays a predominant role in the diffusion process surpassing other major elements and its associated hydrogen can easily diffuse out of cpx. Our model also identifies various hydrogen association modes in different elemental compositions and puts constraints on the properties of incorporated hydrogen with non-lattice forming elements in cpx. The findings demonstrate that the application of explainable ML methods in mineralogy holds significant potential for advancing the comprehension of geological phenomena.

Understanding hydrogen diffusion mechanisms in doped α-Fe through DFT calculations

Hydrogen embrittlement is detrimental to structural metals during applications. Herein, we explore the hydrogen diffusion mechanisms in doped α-Fe using first-principles calculations. We prove that the hydrogen trap is a thermodynamically spontaneous process, and doping will decrease the hydrogen adsorption energy due to the change of adsorption sites. Furthermore, hydrogen diffusion from surface to subsurface will determine the diffusion rate. Mo, Mn and C are beneficial to the increase of the energy barrier of hydrogen diffusion from the surface to subsurface and in the bulk. The current work provides a promising path towards enhancing the hydrogen diffusion barrier in α-Fe.

Mechanism analysis of hydrogen induced crack formation in welded joint of X80 pipeline steel

Hydrogen-induced cracking is one of the most common welding defects in welded joints of high-strength steel. Because of its delayed cracking characteristics, major safety accidents are prone to occur during the use of the structure. Therefore, for analyzing the causes of hydrogen-induced cracking, it is of great significance to study the mechanism of hydrogen diffusion and enrichment in welded joints of pipeline steel. In this paper, firstly, the welded joint of pipeline steel is taken as the research object, the finite element simulation of welding process of X80 pipeline steel considering solid phase transformation, which coupled the heatmicrostructure-mechanical-hydrogen diffusion, is established. It makes the numerical simulation of hydrogen diffusion and enrichment in the whole welding process possible. Then, taking the butt joint of diameter 422mm steel pipe as an example, the groove form of butt joint is designed, and the multi pass welding process is determined. Through the established finite element calculation method, the distribution of residual stress and hydrogen concentration during the welding process are calculated. It is found that the residual stress concentration is obvious at the welded joint, and the tensile and compressive stress changes obviously. Finally, the effects of microstructure, stress distribution and temperature gradient on hydrogen diffusion and enrichment were analyzed. It was found that the stress gradient and temperature gradient played a leading role in hydrogen diffusion at different welding stages. The research results reveal some rules, which can provide technical support for the safety and reliability evaluation of offshore pipeline steel structures.

Contributions of polarized dislocation walls, internal stresses and vacancies on hydrogen trapping processes in tensile strengthening (100) nickel single crystal

Multiscale impact of dislocation patterns on hydrogen diffusion and trapping mechanisms has been investigated in multi-slip tensile strengthening nickel single crystal. A thorough analysis of dislocation densities and distribution, resulting long-range internal stresses and vacancies concentration was performed at different levels of plastic deformation to precisely characterize the different trapping sites and their impact on apparent diffusion coefficient. Both factors, which govern the hydrogen distributions, have been exanimated using an original analyze combining electrochemical permeation and thermal desorption mass spectroscopy. The results revealed a slowing of the hydrogen diffusion resulting from the phenomenon of trapping by dislocations at different scales. An energetic approach made it possible to associate the reversible trapping with the elastic field of dislocations, and the irreversible trapping with the core of dislocations and vacancies. Moreover, the analyses highlight an implication of the long-range internal stress in the increase of the apparent hydrogen solubility in relation with dislocation cells formation. Finally, a contribution of vacancies to hydrogen trapping is demonstrated with a competition between the formation of vacancies induced by plastic strain and hydrogen ingress.

Hydrogen diffusion coefficient in monoclinic zirconia in presence of oxygen vacancies

To better understand the hydrogen diffusion mechanisms in monoclinic zirconia that take place in fuel rod cladding during reactor operation, we calculate the diffusion paths of different defects involving hydrogen and oxygen vacancies using Density Functional Theory with hybrid functionals, and use them to obtain the hydrogen and oxygen diffusion coefficients. We find a hydrogen diffusion coefficient varying between 10−10 to 10−20 cm2⋅s−1 at 600 K, strongly depending on the hydrogen to oxygen vacancy ratio. We find that the interstitial hydrogen atoms are the main diffusing species even though they are not the dominant configuration of hydrogen atoms. We confirm the existence of different huge trapping effects, which slow the hydrogen diffusion. The main mechanism is either the trapping of hydrogen atoms in oxygen vacancies or the formation of interstitial dihydrogen molecules depending on the hydrogen to oxygen vacancy ratio.

Hydrogen diffusion mechanisms in quartz: insights from H–Li,2H–H and2H–H–Li exchange experiments

AbstractThe diffusivity and diffusion mechanisms of hydrogen together with with deuterium and lithium, parallel to thecaxis of quartz, were investigated experimentally at 800°C, 0.1 GPa with the activity of H2O or2H2O ≈ 1 [2H is used throughout this work to describe deuterium rather than D, to avoid confusion with the diffusion coefficient,D]. The pH was set using mixtures of H2O (or2H2O) and HCl. Three types of experiment were conducted: (1) H-in/Li-out; (2)2H-in/H-out; and (3)2H-in/H + Li out, using three different natural quartz crystals as starting materials. Profiles of H,2H and Li were measured using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). H,2H and Li are charge-compensated by Al3+replacing Si4+, or by excess O2–. The total atomic concentration of monovalent cations appears to remain constant over the duration of the experiments. The resulting diffusion profiles are different for the three experimental designs and three starting materials, and some show complex shapes inconsistent with simple diffusion. A multi-site diffusion–reaction model is developed, with the theory based on previous models that have been derived mainly on the basis of conductivity measurements. In these models, the monovalent cations move away from their charge-balancing ion then diffuse rapidly to another site. The mobility of the monovalent cations is described by both a diffusion coefficient and an equilibrium constant that enables dissociation of the immobile charge-balanced defects. This model can describe complex step-shaped profiles formed in H-in/Li-out experiments, profiles with local maxima ('humped’ profiles) in2H-in/H + Li out experiments, and error function-shaped profiles in2H-in/H-out and previously published Li-in/H-out experiments. Our data provide support for models previously proposed for quartz. Studies of the lengths and forms of diffusion profiles from such experiments provide a useful complement to assertions from conductivity experiments.

First-principles study of the interstitial stability and microscopic diffusion mechanism of hydrogen atom in Zr, Ti elemental and ZrTi2 alloys

Hydrogen absorbing materials based on titanium with high hydrogen absorbing capacity such as Ti–Mo, Ti–Zr–V, Ti–Zr and so on have gained significant attention in recent years. It's necessary to optimize and improve the properties of structural materials for studying the behavior of hydrogen impurities in zirconium-titanium alloys. In order to discuss whether hydrogen atoms can stably exist in the interstitial space of Ti–Zr alloy and find the optimal diffusion path of hydrogen atoms in Ti–Zr alloy, we study the hydrogen atom diffusion ability and migration path in Ti–Zr alloy and the change of the formation energy of hydrogen atom at the interstitial defect based on First principles in this paper. Through calculations, it can be concluded that hydrogen atoms tend to occupy the tetrahedral gaps containing only Ti atoms. Furthermore, it's easiest for hydrogen atoms to diffuse between the gaps of the Zr–Zr layer and the best diffusion path for hydrogen atoms in the Ti–Zr alloy is also in the Zr–Zr layer. In general, it's easy for hydrogen atoms to migrate near Zr atoms. The energy expansion barrier of hydrogen atoms between adjacent gaps will be affected by the first neighboring metal atoms, and the first neighboring metal atoms have an inhibitory effect on the diffusion of hydrogen atoms. By comparing the diffusion of hydrogen atoms in Zr, Ti and Zr–Ti alloys, it has been found that the diffusion rate of hydrogen atoms in Zr–Ti alloys is greater than that in Zr and Ti. The above results will provide a theoretical reference for further exploring the microscopic mechanism of hydrogen diffusion in zirconium-titanium alloys.

Hydrogen diffusion in plutonium hydrides from first principles

The hydrogenation of metallic plutonium (Pu) is a crucial issue for its actual applications. In-depth scientific understanding of the hydriding corrosion process of Pu requires established values of rates and associated microscopic mechanism of hydrogen diffusion in the reaction product plutonium hydrides. Therefore, in this work we investigate the hydrogen diffusion in the stoichiometric plutonium dihydride and the non-stoichiometric one that contains tetrahedral hydrogen vacancies from first principles. Our results reveal the microscopic dynamical behavior of hydrogen in these compounds and indicate that the dominant diffusion mechanism greatly depends on the temperature and composition.

Hydrogen Diffusion Influence on the Stabilizing Phases Behavior in the Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

For obtaining a unique microstructure in Ti-6Al-4V, hydrogen is utilized as a temporary alloying element; therefore, the mechanism of hydrogen diffusion in α and β phases should be understood. In this study, the electrochemical hydrogenation was applied to the half-length of thin titanium rods, and the diffusion annealing heat treatment was implemented at different temperatures. The hydrogen diffusion coefficient of α phase (Dα) and the hydrogen diffusion coefficient of β phase (Dβ) was determined by employing Abaqus software and C# program for three different homogeneous microstructures. The obtained results showed that Dβ increases, and Dα decreases when the hydrogen concentration in β phase increases. Furthermore, it was observed that each microstructure has a specific temperature in which the maximum hydrogen amount is absorbed. The hydrogen uptake depends more on the volume fraction of β phase than the volume fraction of α phase, which is considered an obstacle to hydrogen diffusion in this alloy.

Estimating ferric iron content in clinopyroxene using machine learning models

AbstractClinopyroxene ferric iron content is an important consideration for garnet-clinopyroxene geothermometry and estimations of water storage in the Earth’s interior but remains difficult and expensive to measure. Here, we develop seven classic algorithms and machine learning methods to estimate Fe3+/ΣFe in clinopyroxene using major element data from electron microprobe analyses. The models were first trained using a large data set of clinopyroxene Fe3+/ΣFe values determined by Mössbauer spectroscopy and spanning a wide compositional range, with major uncertainties ranging from 0.25 to 0.3 and root-mean-square errors on the test data set ranging from 0.071 to 0.089. After dividing the entire data set into three compositional sub-data sets, the machine learning models were trained and compared for each sub-data set. Our results suggest that ensemble learning algorithms (random forest and Extra-Trees) perform better than principal component analysis-based elastic net polynomial, artificial neural network, artificial neural network ensemble, decision trees, and linear regressions. Using a sub-data set excluding clinopyroxene in spinel peridotite and omphacite in eclogite, the new models achieved uncertainties of 0.15 to 0.2 and root-mean-square errors on the test data set ranging from 0.051 to 0.078, decreasing prediction errors by 30–40%. By incorporating compositional data on coexisting spinel, new models for clinopyroxene in spinel peridotite show improved performance, indicating the interaction between spinel and clinopyroxene in spinel peridotite. Feature importance analysis shows Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ to be the most important for predicting Fe3+ content, supporting the coupled substitution between Ca2+-M2+ and Na+-M3+ in natural clinopyroxenes. The application of our models to garnet-clinopyroxene geothermometry greatly improves temperature estimates, achieving uncertainties of ±50 °C, compared with uncertainties of ±250 °C using previous models assuming all Fe as Fe2+ or calculating Fe3+ by charge conservation. Differences in the ferric iron contents, as calculated using the machine learning models, of clinopyroxenes that did or did not experience hydrogen diffusion during their crystallization from basaltic magma support a redox-driven mechanism for hydrogen diffusion in clinopyroxene.

Hydride corrosion kinetics on metallic surface: a multiphase-field modeling

The hydride growth on metallic surface can cause material failure, which is a significant form of pitting corrosion. A new multiphase-field model is constructed to study the hydride corrosion kinetics, in which three order parameters are introduced to represent the passive film, hydride and metal phase, respectively. Coupling with hydrogen concentration field and elastic strain field, this model not only presents the growth of hydride and the rupture of passive film, but also reveals the hydrogen diffusion mechanism and the effect of strain energy on pitting corrosion process. The simulation shows the semi-ellipsoidal cerium hydride forms and grows near the passive film/cerium interface. During this process, the passive film on the upper side of the hydride is also hydrogenated or peeled off, resulting in faster hydrogen transport, which in turn promotes the growth of hydride. The formation of cerium hydride causes volume expansion, and the strain energy is mainly distributed around the hydride, which inhibits its growth. The present study contributes to understanding the formation mechanism of hydride corrosion at mesoscale, especially the pitting corrosion kinetics of rare earth metals.