Switching nanoprecipitates to resist hydrogen embrittlement in high-strength aluminum alloys

Yafei Wang; Bhupendra Sharma; Yuantao Xu; Kazuyuki Shimizu; Hiro Fujihara; Kyosuke Hirayama; Akihisa Takeuchi; Masayuki Uesugi; Guangxu Cheng; Hiroyuki Toda

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34628-4

Switching nanoprecipitates to resist hydrogen embrittlement in high-strength aluminum alloys

Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 18;13(1):6860. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34628-4.

Authors

Yafei Wang^#^{1

2}, Bhupendra Sharma^#³, Yuantao Xu^{4

5}, Kazuyuki Shimizu⁶, Hiro Fujihara⁷, Kyosuke Hirayama⁸, Akihisa Takeuchi⁹, Masayuki Uesugi⁹, Guangxu Cheng¹⁰, Hiroyuki Toda⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan. yafeiwang90@outlook.com.
² School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China. yafeiwang90@outlook.com.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan. sharma.bhupendra.464@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan. xu.yuantao.158@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
⁵ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Laser Processing and Modification, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. xu.yuantao.158@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
⁶ Department of Physical Science and Materials Engineering, Iwate University, Iwate, 020-8551, Japan.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
⁸ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
⁹ Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Hyogo, 679-5198, Japan.
¹⁰ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Hydrogen drastically embrittles high-strength aluminum alloys, which impedes efforts to develop ultrastrong components in the aerospace and transportation industries. Understanding and utilizing the interaction of hydrogen with core strengthening elements in aluminum alloys, particularly nanoprecipitates, are critical to break this bottleneck. Herein, we show that hydrogen embrittlement of aluminum alloys can be largely suppressed by switching nanoprecipitates from the η phase to the T phase without changing the overall chemical composition. The T phase strongly traps hydrogen and resists hydrogen-assisted crack growth, with a more than 60% reduction in the areal fractions of cracks. The T phase-induced reduction in the concentration of hydrogen at defects and interfaces, which facilitates crack growth, primarily contributes to the suppressed hydrogen embrittlement. Transforming precipitates into strong hydrogen traps is proven to be a potential mitigation strategy for hydrogen embrittlement in aluminum alloys.