Micro-pore development phenomenon in hydrogen pre-charged aluminum alloy studied using synchrotron X-ray micro-tomography.

The paper provides an insight into the development of the micro-pore damage phenomenon during the hydrogen ingress and egress in a high strength aluminum alloy. High resolution micro tomography scans on samples subjected to combinations of cathodic hydrogen charging and de-sorption heat treatment were carried out. The quantitative analysis, spatial mapping, and probabilistic evaluation of the 3D datasets revealed that the development of micro-pore damage during hydrogen ingress-egress had a non-trivial dependence on the particle size distribution. This provides a rationale to mitigate the deleterious effects of hydrogen in aluminum alloys by controlling particle size characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]