Crystallographic character of grain boundaries resistant to hydrogen-assisted fracture in Ni-base alloy 725
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s41467-018-05549-y.pdf
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Author(s)
Hanson, John Paul
Bagri, Akbar
Lind, Jonathan
Kenesei, Peter
Suter, Robert M.
Gradecak, Silvija
Demkowicz, Michael J.
Date Issued
August 2018
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Hanson, John P. et al. “Crystallographic Character of Grain Boundaries Resistant to Hydrogen-Assisted Fracture in Ni-Base Alloy 725.” Nature Communications 9, 1 (August 2018): 3386 © 2018 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) causes sudden, costly failures of metal components across a wide range of industries. Yet, despite over a century of research, the physical mechanisms of HE are too poorly understood to predict HE-induced failures with confidence. We use non-destructive, synchrotron-based techniques to investigate the relationship between the crystallographic character of grain boundaries and their susceptibility to hydrogen-assisted fracture in a nickel superalloy. Our data lead us to identify a class of grain boundaries with striking resistance to hydrogen-assisted crack propagation: boundaries with low-index planes (BLIPs). BLIPs are boundaries where at least one of the neighboring grains has a low Miller index facet—{001}, {011}, or {111}—along the grain boundary plane. These boundaries deflect propagating cracks, toughening the material and improving its HE resistance. Our finding paves the way to improved predictions of HE based on the density and distribution of BLIPs in metal microstructures.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05549-y
