Dynamic Observation of Hydrogen Gas Release during Crack Propagation in Al-Zn-Mg Alloy
We have developed a new testing device, which is capable of detecting hydrogen gas evolution from the microstructural changes at the same timing. The device is composed of the tensile testing machine equipped with a high-speed microscope and two types of quadrupole mass spectrometers installed in the ultrahigh vacuum chamber. Sampling rate of microscopic observation is 2000 fps. Hydrogen or deuterium was pre-charged to the 7075 aluminum alloy by means of the slow strain rate deformation, together with the exposure under the humid air atmosphere. The hydrogen amount was measured by using a thermal desorption analysis in advance. As a result, it was revealed that hydrogen gas was evolved when the surface crack was generated around the notch root of the test specimen. SEM observation also showed that the initial crack is related to the propagation of grain boundary fracture around the notch root. When compared to the microstructure and the hydrogen gas evolution near the notch root, the hydrogen amount evolved at the grain boundary was estimated to be about 3.0×10-7mol/m2.