HERB: a unified framework for the evaluation of Hydrogen Embrittlement mechanisms driven by the Rice-Beltz concept

TL;DR

This paper introduces HERB, a comprehensive multiscale framework that unifies various hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms by integrating dislocation emission, hydrogen transport, and void growth, driven by the Rice-Beltz concept.

Contribution

The HERB framework is the first to combine multiple HE mechanisms into a single thermomechanically consistent model incorporating dislocation dynamics and hydrogen transport.

Findings

HERB unifies HEDE, HELP, NVC, and HESIV mechanisms.

Hydrogen transport is modeled in the dislocation-free zone near cracks.

Void dynamics are dominated by dislocation density within specific limits.

Abstract

The multiscale picture of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) mechanisms has been under controversy for a long time. Here I report a thermomechanically-consistent HERB framework driven by the Rice-Beltz concept meanwhile incorporating the hydrogen transport near the crack-tip and void growth within the plastic zone. Triggered solely by dislocation emission from the crack tip, the HERB theory unifies multiple HE mechanisms, such as HEDE, HELP, NVC and HESIV within a single framework. Specifically, a generalized model for predicting the hydrogen-informed dislocation emission is established by incorporating the Rice-Beltz model with the transition state theory. Accounting for the dynamic variation of the trapping energy of spherical inclusions, hydrogen transport is modeled in the dislocation free zone in front of the crack tip. Semi-analytical expressions of the density of geometrically necessary dislocations are obtained by incorporating the Hutchinson-Rice-Rosengren solution with the conventional theory of mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity model. By exploring the feasibility of stochastic analysis, the present theory demonstrates that the hydrogen-informed void dynamics is dominated by the dislocation density between the limits of Lifshitz-Allen-Cahn and Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner laws, even though individual events remain unpredictable. These insights fundamentally reshape hydrogen/dislocation interactions across multiple scales, including the core width, short-range and long-range levels.