Mechanistic understanding the mechanism of hydrogen-facilitated stress corrosion cracking - DiffH-SCC

欧盟委员会预测，核能将在实现低碳、负担得起的能源、增强可再生能源发展过程中的能源安全方面做出重大贡献。然而，应力腐蚀开裂(SCC)是核电站的最大障碍之一，它会导致核电站部件的意外失效，威胁到运行安全。缓解鳞状细胞癌需要对其机制有透彻的了解，而目前对其机制的了解有限。近年来，申请研究人员和他的同事们发现，可扩散氢在SCC的演化中起着关键作用，这超出了现有的理解。因此，本项目旨在从扩散氢的作用角度，在申请人良好的研究基础上，揭示镍基合金(核电站用材料)中新的应力腐蚀开裂机理。多尺度实验方法将重点放在原位充氢力学测试期间对镍基合金材料的原位表征。该项目采用了不同长度尺度的实验：a)宏观尺度上的裂纹萌生；b)不同微观结构中的应变分布；以及c)微观尺度上单个微观结构的力学测试。这项研究将利用包括材料工程、电化学、电子显微镜、机械工程和腐蚀领域在内的跨学科领域的最先进设备。该建议强调在东道国和研究人员之间转让先进技术的知识，同时为学术界和非学术界部门采用各种培训程序(包括可转让的技能)。通过有效和公开的传播和开发程序，研究结果有可能为我们的最终用户提供实用的建议和指导，以生产具有更高抗SCC性能的合金，从而更安全地利用核能。

Nuclear energy is forecast by the European Commission to make a significant contribution to achieving a low-carbon, affordable energy, enhancing energy security during the development of renewables. However, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is one of the biggest obstacles, as it induces unexpected failure to nuclear power plant components, threatening operational safety. Mitigating SCC requires a thorough understanding of its mechanisms, of which the current understanding is limited. In recent years, the applicant researcher and his colleagues have found that diffusible hydrogen plays a critical role in the evolution of SCC, which is beyond the existing understanding. Therefore, this project aims to uncover new SCC mechanisms in Ni-based alloys (materials used in nuclear power plants) from the perspective of the role of diffusible hydrogen, based on the good foundation of research by the applicant. The multi-scale experimental approach will focus on in-situ materials characterisation of Ni-based alloys during mechanical testing with in-situ hydrogen charging. This project employs experiments at different length-scales: a) crack initiation at the macroscale; b) strain distribution in different microstructures; and c) mechanical testing of single microstructures at the microscale. This research will make use of state-of-the-art equipment from interdisciplinary domains including materials engineering, electrochemistry, electron microscopy, mechanical engineering, and corrosion fields. The proposal emphasises the transfer of knowledge of advanced techniques between the host and researcher, while employing various training processes (including transferable skills) for both academia and non-academia sectors. Through effective and open dissemination and exploitation procedures, the results have the potential to provide practical suggestions and guidance to our end-users for producing alloys with higher SCC-resistance for a safer utilisation of nuclear energy.