Influence of hydrogen on the deformation morphology of vanadium (100) micropillars in the α-phase of the vanadium–hydrogen system

The effect of dissolved hydrogen in a (1 0 0) vanadium single crystal was studied using compression tests of micropillars. It is observed that the shape of the deformed pillars changes with hydrogen concentration. At low concentrations the pillars deform on a few discrete slip planes and at high hydrogen concentrations the pillars deform to a barrel-like shape. Furthermore, the flow stress increases with hydrogen concentration. Both observations can be attributed to an elevated dislocation activity due to hydrogen.