Abstract
Hydrogen embrittlement jeopardizes the use of high-strength steels as critical load-bearing components in energy, transportation, and infrastructure applications. However, our understanding of hydrogen embrittlement mechanism is still obstructed by the uncertain knowledge of how hydrogen affects dislocation motion, due to the lack of quantitative experimental evidence. Here, by studying the well-controlled, cyclic, bow-out movements of individual screw dislocations, the key to plastic deformation in α-iron, we find that the critical stress for initiating dislocation motion in a 2 Pa electron-beam-excited H2 atmosphere is 27~43% lower than that under vacuum conditions, proving that hydrogen lubricates screw dislocation motion. Moreover, we find that aside from vacuum degassing, dislocation motion facilitates the de-trapping of hydrogen, allowing the dislocation to regain its hydrogen-free behavior. Atomistic simulations reveal that the observed hydrogen-enhanced dislocation motion arises from the hydrogen-reduced kink nucleation barrier. These findings at individual dislocation level can help hydrogen embrittlement modelling in steels.
Quantitative tests revealing hydrogen enhanced dislocation motion in α-iron
