Monitoring of environmental hydrogen embrittlement in Al-Zn-Mg-based alloys by means of dynamic hydrogen detection and digital image correlation

A novel analytical system was developed to monitor the environmental hydrogen embrittlement of aluminum alloys dynamically and quantitatively under atmospheric air pressure. Use of this system revealed that hydrogen atoms are generated during the plastic deformation of T6-tempered Al-Zn-Mg-based alloys caused by the chemical reaction between the water vapor in air and the alloy surface without oxide films. The low-purity Al-Zn-Mg-based alloy with high amounts of iron and silicon was less ductile and released more hydrogen gas in the SSRT than another one with low impurities deformed in a humid air environment.