Physics

Finite element method

Embrittlement

Hydrogen

Cracking

Structural engineering

Dissolution

Environmental stress fracture

Engineering

Philosophy

Composite material

Metallurgy

Materials science

Corrosion

Stress (linguistics)

Stress corrosion cracking

Stress field

Linguistics

Phase (matter)

Quantum mechanics

Chemical engineering

Hydrogen embrittlement

Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids

We present a phase field-based electro-chemo-mechanical formulation for modelling mechanics-enhanced corrosion and hydrogen-assisted cracking in elastic-plastic solids. A multi-phase-field approach is used to present, for the first time, a general framework for stress corrosion cracking, incorporating both anodic dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms. We numerically implement our theory using the finite element method and defining as primary kinematic variables the displacement components, the phase field corrosion order parameter, the metal ion concentration, the phase field fracture order parameter and the hydrogen concentration. Representative case studies are addressed to showcase the predictive capabilities of the model in various materials and environments, attaining a promising agreement with benchmark tests and experimental observations. We show that the generalised formulation presented can capture, as a function of the environment, the interplay between anodic dissolution- and hydrogen-driven failure mechanisms; including the transition from one to the other, their synergistic action and their individual occurrence. Such a generalised framework can bring new insight into environment-material interactions and the understanding of stress corrosion cracking, as demonstrated here by providing the first simulation results for Gruhl's seminal experiments.

A generalised, multi-phase-field theory for dissolution-driven stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement