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The effects of changing the strain rate regime from quasi-static to medium on hydrogen susceptibility of aluminum (Al) 7075 were investigated using tensile tests. Strain rates were selected as 1 s−1 and 10−3 s−1 and tensile tests were conducted on both hydrogen uncharged and hydrogen charged specimens at room temperature. Electrochemical hydrogen charging method was utilized and the diffusion length of hydrogen inside Al 7075 was modeled. Material characterizations were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and microstructural observations of hydrogen uncharged and hydrogen charged specimens were performed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). As opposed to earlier studies, hydrogen embrittlement (HE) was more pronounced at high strain rate cases. Moreover, hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) was the more dominant hydrogen embrittlement mechanism at slower strain rate but coexistence of hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity and hydrogen enhanced decohesion was observed at a medium strain rate. Overall, the current findings shed light on the complicated hydrogen embrittlement behavior of Al 7075 and constitute an efficient guideline for the usage of Al 7075 that can be subject to different strain rate loadings in service.

In this study, chromium electroplating process, corresponding hydrogen embrittlement, and the effects of baking on hydrogen diffusion are investigated. Three types of materials in the form of Raw 4340 steel, Chromium electroplated 4340 steel, and Chromium electroplated and baked 4340 steel are used in order to shed light on the aforementioned processes. Mechanical and microstructural analyses are carried out to observe the effects of hydrogen diffusion. Mechanical analyses show that the tensile strength and hardness of the specimens deteriorate after the chrome-electroplating process due to the presence of atomic hydrogen. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses are carried out for material characterization. Microstructural analyses reveal that hydrogen enters into the material with chromium electroplating process, and baking after chromium electroplating process is an effective way to prevent hydrogen embrittlement. Additionally, the effects of hydrogen on the tensile response of α-Fe-based microstructure with a similar chemical composition of alloying elements are simulated through molecular dynamics (MD) method.

Al 7068-T651 alloy is one of the recently developed materials used mostly in the defense industry due to its high strength, toughness, and low weight compared to steels. The aim of this study is to identify the Johnson–Cook (J–C) material model parameters, the accurate Johnson–Cook (J–C) damage parameters, D1, D2, and D3 of the Al 7068-T651 alloy for finite element analysis-based simulation techniques, together with other damage parameters, D4 and D5. In order to determine D1, D2, and D3, tensile tests were conducted on notched and smooth specimens at medium strain rate, 100 s−1, and tests were repeated seven times to ensure the consistency of the results both in the rolling direction and perpendicular to the rolling direction. To determine D4 and D5 further, tensile tests were conducted on specimens at high strain rate (102 s−1) and temperature (300 °C) by means of the Gleeble thermal–mechanical physical simulation system. The final areas of fractured specimens were calculated through optical microscopy. The effects of stress triaxiality factor, rolling direction, strain rate, and temperature on the mechanical properties of the Al 7068-T651 alloy were also investigated. Damage parameters were calculated via the Levenberg–Marquardt optimization method. From all the aforementioned experimental work, J–C material model parameters were determined. In this article, J–C damage model constants, based on maximum and minimum equivalent strain values, were also reported which can be utilized for the simulation of different applications.

This paper presents a combined experimental and theoretical analysis focusing on the individual roles of microdeformation mechanisms that are simultaneously active during the deformation of twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels in the presence of hydrogen. Deformation responses of hydrogen-free and hydrogen-charged TWIP steels were examined with the aid of thorough electron microscopy. Specifically, hydrogen charging promoted twinning over slip–twin interactions and reduced ductility. Based on the experimental findings, a mechanism-based microscale fracture model was proposed, and incorporated into a visco-plastic self-consistent (VPSC) model to account for the stress–strain response in the presence of hydrogen. In addition, slip-twin and slip–grain boundary interactions in TWIP steels were also incorporated into VPSC, in order to capture the deformation response of the material in the presence of hydrogen. The simulation results not only verify the success of the proposed hydrogen embrittlement (HE) mechanism for TWIP steels, but also open a venue for the utility of these superior materials in the presence of hydrogen.

A new multiscale modeling approach is proposed to predict the contributions of dynamic strain aging (DSA) and the resulting negative strain rate sensitivity (NSRS) on the unusual strain-hardening response of Hadfield steel (HS). Mechanical response of HS was obtained from monotonic and strain rate jump experiments under uniaxial tensile loading within the 10−4 to 10−1 s−1 strain rate range. Specifically, a unique strain-hardening model was proposed that incorporates the atomic-level local instabilities imposed upon by the pinning of dislocations by diffusing carbon atoms to the classical Voce hardening. The novelty of the current approach is the computation of the shear stress contribution imposed on arrested dislocations leading to DSA at the atomic level, which is then implemented to the overall strain-hardening rule at the microscopic level. The new model not only successfully predicts the role of DSA and the resulting NSRS on the macroscopic deformation response of HS but also opens the venue for accurately predicting the deformation response of rate-sensitive metallic materials under any given loading condition.

A multiscale modeling approach was utilized to predict thickness reduction in steel plate heat exchangers (PHEs) utilized in combi boilers. The roles of texture and microstructure were successfully accounted for by properly coupling crystal plasticity and finite element analysis (FEA). In particular, crystal plasticity was employed to determine the proper multiaxial hardening rule to describe the material flow during the forming of PHEs, which was then implemented into the finite element (FE) metal-forming simulations. The current findings show that reliable thickness distribution predictions can be made with appropriate coupling of crystal plasticity and FEA in metal forming. Furthermore, the multiscale modeling approach presented herein constitutes an important guideline for the design of new PHEs with improved thermomechanical performance and reduced manufacturing costs.