Chemo-mechanical Coupled Peridynamic Model for Hydrogen Embrittlement Fracture Analysis

  • Gu, Xin (Hohai University)
  • Wang, Chunge (Hohai University)
  • Wang, Yakun (Hohai University)
  • Zhang, Qing (Hohai University)

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Hydrogen embrittlement is a prevalent failure mode of metallic materials in hydrogen-containing environments, which poses widespread threats to the service safety of critical structures in the energy, transportation, chemical industries and other related fields. This phenomenon often leads to the sudden brittle fracture of components, resulting in severe economic losses and potential safety hazards [1]. To predict and assess hydrogen embrittlement effects, this study proposes a chemo-mechanical coupled peridynamics for hydrogen diffusion, hydrogen-induced deformation and fracture. Specifically, within the peridynamic framework [3], we first develop a hydrogen diffusion equation based on the peridynamic differential operator (PDDO). Subsequently, considering the effects of hydrogen-enhanced local plasticity (HELP) and hydrogen-enhanced decohesion (HEDE) [2], a hydrogen concentration-dependent bond-based peridynamic elastoplastic polycrystalline model is established [4]. This model incorporates hydrogen concentration-dependent bond yield and breakage criteria, thereby characterizing the influence of hydrogen on the ductility and toughness in the ductile-to-brittle fracture of materials. Regarding the numerical implementation of hydrogen diffusion-mechanics coupling, a high-performance implicit staggered solution scheme is proposed. The backward Euler implicit method is employed for the stable and efficient solution of the hydrogen diffusion, whereas the Newton-Raphson method is utilized for the accurate and efficient solution of the elastoplastic deformation and quasi-static fracture processes. The proposed chemo-mechanical peridynamics effectively captures the internal hydrogen diffusion, hydrogen-induced deformation, and crack initiation and propagation of metallic materials. This provides a powerful theoretical and numerical tool for understanding the hydrogen embrittlement mechanism and assessing the service safety of structures in hydrogen-containing environments.