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Neutron imaging is a valuable tool for measuring hydrogen distributions qualitatively and quantitatively in metals. Time-resolved neutron radiography allows to measure hydrogen mass flow inside cm thick steel samples with ~10 s temporal resolution. Hydrogen accumulations around cracks in embrittled iron samples can be visualized three-dimensionally by neutron tomography. This quality of information allows new insights for the analysis of damage mechanisms on a micrometer scale, e.g. of hydrogen blistering. Even the gas pressure of molecular hydrogen in crack cavities has been measured from tomographic reconstructions to be in the range of 5 MPa to 15 MPa for technical iron. Further, this method is non-destructive and provides local information in situ and in all three dimensions with a spatial resolution of 20 - 30 µm. The combination with other methods gives a new quality of information, e.g. of the hydrogen allocation on fractured surfaces.
A common approach to describe hydrogen traps is by their activation energy that is necessary to release hydrogen from the trap. In the present study, Cr-Mo-V steel T24 (7CrMoVTiB10-10) base material and TIG weld metal were investigated. Electrochemically hydrogen charged specimens were analyzed by thermal desorption analysis (TDA) with different linear heating rates. The results show two different effects. At first, the microstructure effect on trapping is evident in terms of higher hydrogen concentrations in the weld metal and increased activation energy for hydrogen release. Secondly, it is necessary to monitor the real specimen temperature. A comparison between the adjusted heating rate and the real specimen temperature shows that the calculated activation energy varies by factor two. Thus, the trap character in case of the base material changes to irreversible at decreased temperature. Hence, the effect of the experimental procedure must be considered as well if evaluating TDA results.
Hydrogen can have an extreme degradation effects in steels, particularly concerning the mechanical properties. These effects can lead to hydrogen assisted cracking in micro-alloyed high strength steels during fabrication and/or operation in industrial applications. The Carrier Gas Hot Extraction method, which functionally combines a mass spectrometer with a Thermal Desorption Analysis process, was used for the detection of ultra-low diffusible hydrogen concentrations in the material specimens. The work shows the interaction between hydrogen and lattice defects in different micro-alloyed materials and HAZ. These steels were prepared in a quenched and tempered condition and in a thermo-mechanically rolled condition. The trapping characteristics of two steel grades, S690QL and S700MC, were studied with respect to the activation energy dependent on carbon content and micro-alloying elements such as Ti, Nb, Mo, Cr and V. The two steel grades exhibited several types of traps: carbide formations, dislocations and/or grain boundaries were common, which can influence activation energy and hydrogen solubility. The type and dimension of inclusions or particles also affected the hydrogen trapping behavior. A decrease of carbon and specific alloying elements in MC steels led to a change in the activation energy binding the trapped hydrogen. This thermo-mechanically hot
rolled steel revealed an increased interaction between hydrogen
and precipitations. The higher carbon content in the
quenched and tempered steel led to a higher interaction
between hydrogen and iron carbide, specifically in the
martensitic phase. Furthermore,the trapping behavior in HAZ showed a significant increase in activation energy, especially in the coarse grained microstructure.
Cold neutrons are predominantly scattered at hydrogen when penetrating hydrogen-charged samples, resulting in a high image contrast between hydrogen and e.g. iron. The used radiographic set-ups consist of a neutron source, state-of-the-art scintillator screens and digital cameras. This allows monitoring diffusive hydrogen fluxes two-dimensionally with 20s temporal resolution. Such hydrogen fluxes can be quantified by using standards with known hydrogen content and similar sample thickness.
Neutron tomography generates three-dimensional models of the hydrogen distribution in steel. Such models gain new insight for damage analysis by showing the hydrogen accumulations around cracks and by enabling the hydrogen gas pressure estimation inside cracks.
The capabilities and limitations, as well as perspectives of this method will be discussed and illustrated with help of selected examples.
In recent years, the optimization of the imaging stations at research reactors and especially the further development of the neutron detectors allowed the measurement of hydrogen distributions with increasing spatial and temporal resolution at lower detection limits at the same time. Hydrogen has compared to iron a high total neutron cross section, which allows with basic radiographic methods the visualization of hydrogen in two and three dimensions inside the microstructure of components. This enables the in situ measuring of hydrogen mass flows inside cm thick steel samples with a temporal resolution of 20 s as well as the quantitative measurement of hydrogen accumulations at the crack’s inner surfaces in hydrogen embrittled iron samples. For the first time, we detected directly gaseous hydrogen in the crack cavities and we could measure the gas pressure. This new quality of the information on a micrometer scale allows new insights for the analysis of damage mechanisms, e.g. of hydrogen embrittlement. Further, this method is non-destructive and provides local information in situ and in three dimensions with a spatial resolution of 20-30 µm, which is not accessible with common methods as e.g. thermal desorption spectroscopy.
In this contribution, we show examples that demonstrate the spatial and temporal resolution of the neutron radiography and tomography method in order to visualize and quantify hydrogen accumulations at cracks. The measurements were performed at the research reactor BER II of HZB in Berlin and at the FRM II reactor of the neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in Garching.