RECENT ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF HYDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Abstract

This paper summarizes recent work at the University of Illinois on the fundamental mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement. Our approach combines experimental and theoretical methods. We describe the theoretical work on hydride formation and its application to hydrogen embrittlement of Ti alloys through the stress-induced hydride formation and cleavage mechanism, the localization of shear due to solute hydrogen, and finally, we present experimental evidence that favors the decohesion mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement in a P-Ti alloy.