Protection of metal interfaces against hydrogen-assisted cracking
Enabling a hydrogen economy requires the development of materials resistant to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). More than 100 years of research have led to several mechanisms and models describing how hydrogen interacts with lattice defects and leads to mechanical property degradation. However, solutions to protect materials from hydrogen are still scarce. Here, we investigate the role of interstitial solutes in protecting critical crystalline defects sensitive to hydrogen. Ab initio calculations show that boron and carbon in solid solutions at grain boundaries can efficiently prevent hydrogen segregation. We then realized this interface protection concept on martensitic steel, a material strongly prone to HE, by doping the most sensitive interfaces with different concentrations of boron and carbon. These segregations, in addition to stress relaxations, critically reduce the hydrogen ingress by half, leading to an unprecedented resistance against HE. This tailored interstitial segregation strategy can be extended to other metallic materials susceptible to hydrogen-induced interfacial failure.
Authors
- Ali Tehranchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8759-1936)
- Stefan Zaefferer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1458-5831)
- Guillaume Hachet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3212-5517)
- Dirk Ponge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6378-379X)
- Shaolou Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1433-1201)
- Dierk Raabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0194-6124)
- Binhan Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9561-7019)
- Baptiste Gault (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4934-0458)
- Aochen Zhang
- Xizhen Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3497-1940)
- Jérémy Lestang
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing (DE)
- East China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Normandie Université (FR)
- Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien (DE)
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (CN)
- Université de Rouen Normandie (FR)
- Institut National des Sciences Appliquées Rouen Normandie (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-12-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67310-6
- Primary Topic
- Hydrogen embrittlement and corrosion behaviors in metals
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron