Discrete dislocation modeling of stress corrosion cracking in an iron

Abstract Material strengthening and embrittlement are controlled by interactions between dislocations and hydrogen that alter the observed deformation mechanisms. In this work, we used an energetics approach to differentiate two fundamental stress corrosion mechanisms in iron, namely, hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity and hydrogen-enhanced decohesion. Considering the small-scale yielding condition, we use a discrete dislocation framework with line dislocations to simulate the crack-tip plastic behavior. The crack growth was modeled using the change in surface energies (cohesive zone laws) due to hydrogen segregation. The changes in the surface energies as a function of hydrogen concentration are computed using atomistic simulations. Results indicate that, when hydrogen concentrations are low, crack growth occurs by alternating mechanisms of cleavage and slip. However, as the hydrogen concentrations increased above some critical value, the crack grows predominately by the cleavage-based decohesion process.