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Swelling of steel film by hydrogen absorption at cathodic potential in electrolyte
Authors:
Debi
Garai
(Diamond Light Source; Amity University)
,
Ilaria
Carlomagno
(Universitá Roma Tre)
,
Vladyslav
Solokha
(Diamond Light Source; Johannes Kepler University Linz)
,
Axel
Wilson
(Diamond Light Source)
,
Carlo
Meneghini
(Universitá Roma Tre)
,
Christian
Morawe
(ESRF – The European Synchrotron)
,
Vadim
Murzin
(University Wuppertal)
,
Ajay
Gupta
(Amity University)
,
Jorg
Zegenhagen
(Diamond Light Source)
Co-authored by industrial partner:
No
Type:
Journal Paper
Journal:
Physica Status Solidi (b)
, VOL 3
State:
Published (Approved)
Published:
April 2020

Abstract: An ≈4 nm FeCrNi film, deposited on a Ru/B4C multilayer (ML), is used to study cathodic hydrogen charging in electrolyte. A thin film on a ML allows obtaining precise quantitative information on surface metal composition and oxidation state using the X‐ray standing wave technique combined with near‐edge X‐ray absorption spectroscopy. The metal composition is found being close to the composition of stainless steel (SS) 304, and, as for bulk steel, the outer 2 nm passive layer, consisting of oxidized iron and chromium, is depleted of nickel. Overall, it is found that the film represented a useful replica of the surface of bulk steel. Following exposure to 0.1 m KCl electrolyte at −0.6 V versus Ag/AgCl, 11.3 (±3)% swelling of the film by hydrogen absorption is observed. The estimated absorbed amount is exceeding reported bulk absorption under similar conditions by more than an order of magnitude. Strong hydrogen absorption appears to be enabled by the 2D character of the thin film, i.e., a significantly lower associated strain energy compared with bulk absorption. The strong surface swelling is suggested to be related to the lowering of the pitting corrosion resistance of SS surfaces reported following hydrogen exposure.
Journal Keywords: hydrogen loading; stainless steels; thin films; X-ray spectroscopy; X-ray standing waves
Diamond Keywords: Alloys
Subject Areas:
Chemistry,
Materials
Instruments:
B16-Test Beamline
,
B18-Core EXAFS
Other Facilities: PETRA-III, DESY
Added On:
07/04/2020 08:56
Discipline Tags:
Surfaces
Materials Engineering & Processes
Physics
Physical Chemistry
Chemistry
Corrosion
Materials Science
interfaces and thin films
Engineering & Technology
Metallurgy
Technical Tags:
Diffraction
Spectroscopy
X-ray Reflectivity (XRR)
X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)
X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES)