Hydrogen embrittlement of high strength aluminium alloys may be suppressed

           The research team of Kyushu University in Japan made 4D observations through SPring-8, a large synchrotron radiation facility, to find out the damage mechanism of high-strength aluminium alloys widely used in aircraft.

High strength aluminium alloys are widely used in aerospace and other fields, but their properties are affected by hydrogen embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking. The hydrogen embrittlement of aluminium alloys has always been considered to be caused by dislocation defects. However, it was found that most of the micro-particles of materials which were previously thought not to absorb hydrogen contained hydrogen. With the interfacial peeling of micro-particles and aluminum, hydrogen embrittlement of aluminum alloy would occur. It is also found that the coarse particles previously thought to be impurities also store hydrogen, so the hydrogen content in the fine particles can be reduced and the hydrogen embrittlement of aluminum alloy can be suppressed by generating appropriate coarse particles.