Takahito Watakabe

Behavior of Hydrogen in Electrolytically Charged Aluminum

Investigation on the behavior of hydrogen is needed to spread the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen microprint technique (HMPT) has been known as an effective method to investigate the hydrogen behavior by visualizing the microscopic location of hydrogen in relation to the microstructure. In the present study, the behavior of electrolitically charged hydrogen in 6061 and 7075 aluminum alloys with T6-temper has been investigated by means of HMPT. Both in the two alloys, hydrogen was detected on constituent particles and in the matrix. Total amount of detected hydrogen was markedly larger in 7075 than in 6061, although the distribution in depth direction far narrower and the fraction of hydrogen detected in the matrix with respect to that on the constituent was larger. These fact was presumed to be caused by the difference in the fine precipitates between the two alloy formed during final aging treatment.

Behavior of Hydrogen Invasion in Aluminum Alloys from Different Environments

Hydrogen embrittlement has been known to occur by invading hydrogen (environmental hydrogen) in some metallic materials under several certain conditions, although the cause has not been clarified yet. To clarify the cause, investigations on the behavior of environmental hydrogen in metallic materials are needed. It has been reported that environmental hydrogen invades 7075 aluminum alloy through the second-phase particles (Al7Cu2Fe). However it has not been clarified yet whether environmental hydrogen invades aluminum through the interface between the matrix and second-phase or through the bulk of second-phase particles. In this study, tritium autoradiography technique, TARG, has been applied to an aluminum alloy containing a single kind of second-phase particles (Al7Cu2Fe), to elucidate the invasion behavior of hydrogen from two different environments: tritiated water and tritium gas. In TARG, hydrogen (tritium) atoms that stay in the vicinity of the surface can be detected as silver particles. Silver particles (hydrogen atoms) were primarily detected on the interface between the matrix and second-phase. Thus most of the invading hydrogen is concluded to be trapped by the interface.

Visualization of Diffusive Hydrogen

In recent years, the use of hydrogen as a clean energy has been paid attention to in terms of the prevention of global warming. Tanks composed solely of steel and cylinders consisting of aluminum liner reinforced with C-FRP in the surrounding are used to store high-pressure hydrogen gas in hydrogen stations and in fuel cell vehicles, respectively. On the other hand, hydrogen embrittlement has been known to occur in some metallic materials under several certain conditions. Also, it has been generally known that the environmental hydrogen that invades the material during services plays major role in hydrogen embrittlement. For this reason, investigations on the behavior of environmental hydrogen in metallic materials are needed. In this study, the behavior of environmental hydrogen in pure aluminum, 6061 aluminum alloy and 7075 aluminum alloy has been investigated by means of tritium autoradiography.