Hydride-induced embrittlement and fracture in metals -- effect of stress and temperature distribution (Q1612673)

The authors develop and implement numerically a mathematical model for the simulation of hydride-induced embrittlement and fracture of metals. The model takes into account the coupling of operating physical processes, namely: (i) hydrogen diffusion; (ii) hydride precipitation; (iii) non-mechanical energy flow, and (iv) hydride solid-solution deformation. First, the governing equations for hydrogen diffusion, non-mechanical energy flow and hydride precipitation are discussed. The thermodynamic treatment is applied to the first two processes, occuring within hydride-forming metals, under stress and temperature gradient. In the hydrogen diffusion model, the effect of hydrogen trapping in the solid solution by dislocations and voids is neglected, since the bulk of the material is assumed to behave elastically. The mathematical formulation demands the knowledge of hydrogen chemical potential and terminal solid solubility. The relations for these quantities, depending on applied stress, are derived, too. Then, the authors examine constitutive relations for elastic material deformation. Material damage and crack growth are simulated by using decohesion model, taking into account the time variation of decohesion energy due to the time-dependent hydride precipitation. Further, a finite element implementation of the hydride-induced embrittlement model is presented. This model is used for the simulation of zircaloy-2 hydrogen embrittlement and delayed hydride cracking initiation in (i) a boundary layer problem governing the hydride precipitation and fracture ahead of a crack under mode I loading dominance and constant temperature, and (ii) in a cracked plate under tensile stress and temperature gradient. The authors consider the degradation of a cracked plate under conditions encountered in nuclear fuel cladding during reactor operation. The present model is used only for the simulation of one complete cycle of hydride precipitation and fracture at crack growth initiation, because the crack-tip hydrides are more stable compared with metal matrix, and may redissolve only partially after fracture. The numerical simulation predicts hydride precipitation at a small distance from the crack tip. Under critical remote loading, the near-tip hydride fracture (generating a microcrack which is separated from the main crack by a ductile ligament) is in agreement with experiments.