International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Effects of hydrogen and load frequency on the fatigue crack propagation

behavior of selective laser melted Inconel 718 alloy
Zhenghong Fu, Pengfei Wu, Yong Zhang, Kefu Gan, Dingshun Yan, Zhiming Li *
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation behavior of a selective laser melted Inconel 718 alloy was inves­
Hydrogen-assisted fatigue tigated under in situ electrochemical hydrogen charging, and by multi-scale microstructural analysis. Results
Selective laser melting show that hydrogen significantly accelerates fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR), and such effect is intensified
Inconel 718 alloy
when decreasing load frequency. Crack propagation along cellular structure boundaries and decrease of plasticity
Load frequency
Crack propagation
along the crack have been evidenced. Hydrogen decreases the critical strain for crack propagation and results in
the acceleration of FCGR. Lower load frequency induces higher amplitude of concentration fluctuation and larger
penetration depth of hydrogen ahead of the crack tip, thus further promotes the acceleration of FCGR.

1. Introduction reported to be related to the γ‘ (Ni3(AlTi)), γ“ (Ni3Nb) and δ (Ni3Nb)

Ni-based Inconel 718 superalloy is currently one of the most
important materials in aerospace and aeronautics applications, as well
as for the oil, sour gas and offshore industries, due to its outstanding
mechanical properties at cryogenic, room and elevated temperatures,
and high resistance to aqueous stress corrosion cracking [1–3]. How­
ever, the high strength of Inconel 718 alloy also leads to the difficulty for
machining, which increases the challenge for fabricating ideally shaped
parts by conventional manufacturing methods. Selective laser melting
(SLM) process, which can efficiently manufacture complex geometric
parts with refined microstructures and excellent mechanical properties,
has received increasing attention for the cost-efficient manufacturing of
Inconel 718 alloy components in recent years [4–7]. During SLM pro­
cess, the localized rapid heating and cooling can induce the formation of
cellular structures which are usually decorated by segregated elements
and high-density of dislocations [7–10]. These cellular structures are
considered to be related to the improving of mechanical properties of
SLM manufactured alloys comparing to that of conventional cast coun­
terparts [11–19].
In addition to the adjusted mechanical properties by SLM process,
the vulnerability of the Inconel 718 alloy to hydrogen is another
important concern for its application, e.g., considerable studies have
attempted to understand the mechanisms underlying the hydrogen-
assisted fatigue crack propagation of conventionally manufactured
Inconel 718 alloy [20–23]. The corresponding failure patterns have been
precipitates [24,25], as well as the microscale dynamic processes upon
deformation in the presence of hydrogen, such as the formation of
micro-voids and hydrogen-lattice defect interactions [26,27]. Although
the hydrogen-related failure mechanisms of conventionally manufac­
tured Inconel 718 alloys have been extensively studied, for applications
of the SLM processed alloy in hydrogen environments, the hydrogen-
assisted fatigue crack propagation behavior is essential to be under­
stood. Li et al. [28] reported that the γ-matrix/Laves and γ-matrix/δ
interfaces act as preferable cracking sites for hydrogen charged as-
deposited and heat-treated Inconel 718 alloys fabricated by laser
direct forming. However, Kevinsanny et al. [29] suggested that the fa­
tigue limit of SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy is more sensitive to
microstructural defects but not hydrogen. The microstructures of SLM
processed Inconel 718 alloy show significant difference from that of the
counterparts manufactured by conventional processes. Under mono­
tonic tensile loading, investigations for SLM processed alloys have sug­
gested that hydrogen-induced cracks preferentially propagate along
cellular structure boundaries [30], because of the relatively high diffu­
sion coefficient of hydrogen in these areas [31]. It can be speculated that
the cellular structures in the SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy will also
have significant effects on fatigue crack propagation behavior in the
presence of hydrogen.
It has also been reported that the hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack
propagation behavior of metallic materials depends on the load fre­
quency. It is generally accepted that lower load frequency leads to

* Corresponding author: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
E-mail address: lizhiming@csu.edu.cn (Z. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2022.106848
Received 8 November 2021; Received in revised form 9 February 2022; Accepted 7 March 2022
Available online 9 March 2022
0142-1123/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z. Fu et al.
higher acceleration of hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack growth rate
[32–35]. Previous studies have suggested that the acceleration of
hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation is decreasing with the in­
crease of load frequency when the frequency is higher than 0.1 Hz, while
it can be reversed when the frequency is lower than 0.1 Hz [36]. Similar
results have also been reported by Wan et al. [37]. Therefore, the effect
of load frequency on the hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation
behavior should also be considered.
Motivated by the above concerns, in the present study the hydrogen-
assisted fatigue crack propagation behavior of SLM processed Inconel
718 alloy was investigated under in situ electrochemical hydrogen
charging with different load frequencies (f = 0.2 and 0.02 Hz). The
mechanisms responsible for the different cracking behavior under
different testing conditions were discussed by comparing the cracking
paths and deformation microstructures probed by the combined
approach of electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and electron
channeling contrast imaging (ECCI).
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Selective laser melting process
Argon gas atomized Inconel 718 alloy powders were used in this
work. The morphologies of the spherical powders are shown in Fig. 1a.
X-ray diffraction analysis suggests single γ phase of the powders
(Fig. 1b). The average size of the powders measured by laser particle
analyzer is 36.38 μm (Fig. 1c). The chemical compositions of the pow­
ders are shown in Table 1. The optimal SLM parameters were applied in
this work: laser power of 285 W, hatching space of 100 μm, scanning
speed of 960 mm/s, layer thickness of 40 μm. The volumetric energy
density was calculated to be 74.2 J/mm3. Samples with dimensions of
60 × 30 × 6 mm3 were printed on a 316L stainless steel substrate under
the protection of high purity argon gas. The scanning direction was kept
67◦ rotation for the two consecutive layers during SLM process.
2.2. Fatigue crack propagation testing under in situ hydrogen charging
Single edge notched tensile (SENT) specimens manufactured by wire
electrode cutting according to the dimensions shown in Fig. 2a were
used for the fatigue crack propagation tests. The specimen surfaces were
ground using SiC papers from 400 to 5000 granulation. Type I crack was
investigated in this test, thus the stress intensity factor range (ΔK) at the
crack tip of the SENT specimen was calculated by Eqn. 1–2 [37]:
ΔP a of 30 kV and current of 3 nA.
ΔK = √̅̅̅̅̅ f ( )
B W W
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
̅ 3. Results
(a) 2tan 2W πa (a) πa
f = πa [0.752 + 2.02 + 0.37(1 − sin )3 ]
W cos 2W W 2W
where ΔP is the load range, B is the specimen thickness, W is the spec­
imen width, a is the crack length. Fatigue crack propagation tests were
Fig. 1. Analysis of the Inconel 718 alloy powders used for the SLM process: (a) SEM image showing the morphologies; (b) X-ray diffraction pattern; (c) Particle size
distribution. SLM refers to “selective laser melting”
International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848
performed on an electronic universal testing machine under ΔP-constant
control. It has been widely accepted that the load frequency has little
effect on the fatigue crack propagation behavior of metals at room
temperature in air [32,37]. In the present study, a load frequency of 0.2
Hz was used for the test in air. Two frequencies, 0.2 Hz and 0.02 Hz,
were chosen for investigating the effect of load frequency on the
hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation behavior of the SLM pro­
cessed Inconel 718 alloy.
The tests in air and under in situ electrochemical hydrogen charging
were orderly performed on the same SENT specimen. First of all, the
SENT specimens were pre-cracked under fatigue load to an initial crack
length (a0) of ~0.5 mm. Then the fatigue crack propagation test in air
was performed. When the crack propagated to ~0.6 mm, the SENT
specimen was immersed into the hydrogen charging solution for
hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation tests under the load fre­
quencies of 0.2 and 0.02 Hz, respectively. The crack advancement in
each load frequency under in situ hydrogen charging was ~0.4 mm.
Three samples were tested under the same loading sequence and con­
ditions. The in situ electrochemical hydrogen charging started along
with fatigue crack propagation tests. The in situ electrochemical
hydrogen charging was implemented in 3.5 wt% NaCl + 2 g/L CH4N2S
solution under a current density of 5 mA/cm2 at room temperature. A
platinum sheet worked as the anode and the SENT specimen worked as
the cathode (Fig. 2b). Triangular wave was used during the fatigue
loading, and the stress ratio was set as 0.1. The start ΔK value for the
fatigue crack propagation under each test condition was set as ~18
MPa⋅m1/2. The crack length was measured by optical microscope after
every 4000 cycles in air, 500 cycles in hydrogen under 0.2 Hz, and 200
cycles in hydrogen under 0.02 Hz, considering the acceleration of fa­
tigue crack growth rate by hydrogen. The crack growth rate was
calculated from the measured change in crack length and the corre­
sponding increase in the number of cycles, i.e., da/dN.
2.3. Microstructure characterization
The microstructures prior to and after fatigue crack propagation tests
were characterized by a combined EBSD-ECCI approach. Samples for
EBSD-ECCI analysis were ground by SiC papers from 400 to 5000
granulation and then polished by diamond suspensions (~2.5 μm).
Finally, the samples were fine polished using oxide suspension with
silica particles (~50 nm). EBSD analysis was performed at an acceler­
ation voltage of 20 kV and current of 7 nA. ECCI analysis was performed
in the regions corresponding to EBSD analysis at an acceleration voltage
(1)
(2)
3.1. Microstructures of the as-SLM processed alloy
Fig. 3 shows the microstructures of the as-SLM processed Inconel 718
alloy characterized by EBSD and ECCI. The EBSD inverse pole figure
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Z. Fu et al. International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848

Table 1
Chemical composition of the Inconel 718 alloy powders (wt. %).
Element Ni Cr Nb Mo Ti Al Co C Fe

Composition 53.2 19.8 5.1 3.2 0.98 0.76 0.85 0.03 Bal.

Fig. 2. (a) Dimensions of the SENT specimen and (b) schematic of experimental setting for fatigue crack propagation test under in situ electrochemical hydrogen
charging. SENT refers to “single edge notched tensile”.

Fig. 3. Microstructures of the as-SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy: (a) EBSD IPF map; (b) EBSD GROD map; (c) EBSD grain boundary distribution map; (d) low
magnification ECC image of the cellular structures; (e) details of the cellular structures; (f) EDS analysis of elemental distribution. EBSD, IPF, GROD, ECC and EDS
refer to “electron back-scattered diffraction”, “inverse pole figure”, “grain reference orientation deviation”, “electron channeling contrast” and “energy dispersive X-
ray spectroscopy”, respectively.

(IPF) map suggests random grain orientation (Fig. 3a). It should be noted
that the grain interiors exhibit ripple patterns, and continuous change of
color and thus orientation within single grain is frequently observed.
The areas with ripple patterns show higher misorientations in the EBSD
grain reference orientation deviation (GROD) map compared to the
other regions (Fig. 3b), suggesting higher residual strain in these areas. It
also can be observed from the grain boundary distribution map that the
low angle grain boundaries (LAGB, red lines in Fig. 3c) mainly distribute
in the areas with high GROD values. This morphology indicates the
existence of abundant sub-structures in these regions [38]. Fig. 3d-e
reveal the details of the sub-structures by ECCI. It is found that the sub-
structures are groups of cellular structures [13]. Fig. 3e shows that the
cellular walls are decorated by high-density of dislocations and some
white particles, while only some individual dislocations can be observed
in the interior of the cellular structures. The average size of the cellular
structures is ~600 nm. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS)

3
Z. Fu et al.
analysis (Fig. 3f) and relevant literatures confirm that the white particles
are Laves phase enriched with Nb [39–42].
3.2. Fatigue crack growth rate
Fig. 4 compares the fatigue crack growth rates (da/dN) in air and
under in situ hydrogen charging at different frequencies, which clearly
shows that the hydrogen uptake leads to significant acceleration of fa­
tigue crack growth rate in the SLM manufactured Inconel 718 alloy.
More specifically, the fatigue crack growth rate under in situ hydrogen
charging at load frequency of 0.2 Hz is ~10 times higher than that ob­
tained in air. Further, when the load frequency decreases to 0.02 Hz, the
fatigue crack growth rate in the presence of hydrogen increases to ~80
times higher compared to that in air. This suggests that the acceleration
of the hydrogen-assisted fatigue cack growth rate increases with
decreasing the load frequency, and does not exhibit reverse when the
frequency decreases to lower than 0.1 Hz [36,37]. The relevant mech­
anisms will be discussed latter.
3.3. Crack propagation paths and deformation microstructures
Fig. 5 shows the cracking features of the sample tested in air under
the frequency of 0.2 Hz. The EBSD IPF map (Fig. 5a) shows typical
transgranular (TG) mode of the crack propagation. Obvious buckling
can be observed along the crack, indicating high resistance to crack
propagation under this test condition. The corresponding GROD map
suggests remarkable plastic deformation along the crack (Fig. 5b). For
characterizing the micro crack propagation path, ECCI characterization
was performed. It is found that the crack can propagate along both the
transverse and longitudinal sections of the cellular structures (Fig. 5c).
Similar phenomena are also observed on the SLM processed 316L
stainless steel after fatigue crack propagation tests in air using compact
tensile specimens [43]. Moreover, sub-grains and dislocation cells are
observed in the cellular structures near the crack (Fig. 5d). This indicates
that the fatigue crack propagation process in air is accompanied with
significant local plastic deformation in the vicinity of the crack [44,45].
When the fatigue crack propagates under in situ hydrogen charging
with the load frequency of 0.2 Hz, intergranular (IG) mode of cracking
can be observed in some regions apart from the transgranular (TG) mode
according to the EBSD IPF map shown in Fig. 6a. Moreover, the crack is
straighter than that obtained in air, suggesting lower propagation
resistance comparing to that tested in air. This result is consistent with
the change of fatigue crack growth rate shown in Fig. 4. The corre­
sponding GROD map of the sample tested in hydrogen also shows lower
misorientation values than that of the sample tested in air (Fig. 6b). ECC
Fig. 4. Fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) in air and in the presence of
hydrogen at different frequencies.
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International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848
image shown in Fig. 6c suggests the crack propagates along the cellular
structure walls. Dislocation tangles, instead of sub-grains and disloca­
tion cells, are observed in the cellular structures near the crack (Fig. 6d).
Slip bands parallelly distribute in the vicinity of the crack. These
deformation features indicate that the extent of the plastic deformation
at the crack tip under in situ hydrogen charging is less than that tested in
air. This is closely connected to the acceleration of fatigue crack growth
rate.
With the load frequency decreases from 0.2 Hz to 0.02 Hz under in
situ hydrogen charging, more IG cracking parts occur during the crack
propagating (Fig. 7a). Moreover, the GROD values along the crack are
also lower than that tested under the load frequency of 0.2 Hz in the
presence of hydrogen (Fig. 7b). The crack propagation path is still along
the cellular structure walls (Fig. 7c). Dislocation tangles can also be
observed in the cellular structures near the crack (Fig. 7d). However, the
region with dislocation tangles is smaller than that tested under 0.2 Hz
in the presence of hydrogen. This indicates that the decrease of load
frequency under in situ hydrogen charging can result in the decrease of
plastic deformation extent, thus increase the acceleration of hydrogen-
assisted fatigue crack growth rate (Fig. 4).
Fig. 8 quantitatively compares the extent of plastic deformation
along the cracks obtained under virous test conditions, according to the
initial EBSD data. Fig. 8a-b compares the GROD values along the vertical
direction of the cracks at a ΔK value of ~20 MPa⋅m1/2, where the dis­
tribution width of the increased GROD values reflects the plastic
deformation range. For the case of fatigue test under in situ hydrogen
charging with load frequency of 0.2 Hz (red line in Fig. 8a), the distri­
bution width of increased GROD values is significantly smaller than that
observed in air (black line in Fig. 8a). More specifically, the width
observed under in situ hydrogen charging with load frequency of 0.2 Hz
is approximately 8.5 μm, while the width is above 13.0 μm for that tested
in air. Moreover, the width observed under in situ hydrogen charging
with load frequency of 0.02 Hz is significantly smaller than that for the
other two test conditions with a value of approximately 2.5 μm (blue line
in Fig. 8a). This indicates much less plasticity is involved and the lower
magnitude plastic strain is needed for the fatigue crack propagation in
the case of in situ hydrogen charging, and this effect becomes more
significant at lower load frequency. Fig. 8c shows the Kernel average
misorientation (KAM) values constructed from the EBSD data. Obvi­
ously, the KAM values for the case in air show slightly higher misori­
entation angles than that of under in situ hydrogen charging. This
confirms that the plastic deformation accompanied during crack prop­
agation process in hydrogen is less intense compared to that in air.
Similar trend can also be found from the statistics of grain boundary
distribution as the less LAGB (≤5◦ ) reflects lower plastic deformation. As
shown in Fig. 8d, the fraction of LAGB in air is 69.9%, while the fractions
of LAGB obtained under in situ hydrogen charging decrease to 56.5% at
load frequency of 0.2 Hz and 44.6% at load frequency of 0.02 Hz.
Fig. 9 shows the ECC images of the crack tips obtained under various
test condition. It is worth noting that hydrogen and load frequency do
not change the fatigue crack propagation path, i.e., all the cracks
propagate along the cellular structure walls. The difference is that an
obvious plastic deformation zone can be observed at the crack tip ob­
tained in air (Fig. 9a). In contrast, disconnected parts occur at the crack
tips obtained in hydrogen. Moreover, the crack tip obtained in hydrogen
at load frequency of 0.02 Hz (Fig. 9c) is more sharpening than that
obtained in hydrogen at load frequency of 0.2 Hz (Fig. 9b). This in­
dicates that the resistance to fatigue crack propagation in hydrogen at
low load frequency is lower than that in air and H-charging with a higher
load frequency. In addition, the appearing of disconnected parts also
suggest the hydrogen-enhanced decohesion mechanism during the fa­
tigue crack propagating in hydrogen [46–48].
3.4. Fracture surface morphologies
Fig. 10 exhibits the fracture surface morphologies characterized by
Z. Fu et al. International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848

Fig. 5. Crack propagation features of the sample tested in air: (a) EBSD IPF map; (b) EBSD GROD map; (c) ECC image of the crack; (d) sub-grains and dislocation cells
near the crack. TG and LD refer to “transgranular” and “load direction”, respectively.

Fig. 6. Crack propagation features of the sample tested in the presence of hydrogen with the load frequency of 0.2 Hz: (a) EBSD IPF map; (b) EBSD GROD map; (c)
ECC image of the crack; (d) dislocation tangles and slip bands near the crack. IG refers to “intergranular”.

secondary electron imaging. The fatigue crack propagates from the left
to the right of the image in Fig. 10a. High magnification images of each
zone obtained from various test conditions are shown in Fig. 10b-d,
respectively. For the case of test in air with load frequency of 0.2 Hz,
typical ductile fatigue striations can be observed on the cleavage planes
(Fig. 10b). In the presence of hydrogen under load frequency of 0.2 Hz
(Fig. 10c) and 0.02 Hz (Fig. 10d), severe brittle fracture can be observed.
The fatigue striations are hardly to be observed on the fracture surface
obtained in hydrogen. Almost all the fracture surfaces are covered by
net-like morphologies, which are resulted from the decohesion of
cellular structure walls [30]. In the presence of hydrogen, the number of
secondary cracks increase with the decrease of load frequency, sug­
gesting less plastic deformation.

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Z. Fu et al. International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848

Fig. 7. Crack propagation features of the sample tested in the presence of hydrogen with a load frequency of 0.02 Hz: (a) EBSD IPF map; (b) EBSD GROD map; (c)
ECC image of the crack; (d) dislocation tangles near the crack.

Fig. 8. Quantitative comparison of the plastic deformation extent according to the EBSD data: (a) distributions of GROD values along the vertical direction of the
cracks; (b) distribution width of the increased GROD values; (c) KAM values; (d) grain boundary distribution. KAM refers to Kernel average misorientation.

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Z. Fu et al. International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848

Fig. 9. ECC images of the crack tips obtained in air under load frequency of 0.2 Hz (a), with in situ hydrogen charging under load frequency of 0.2 Hz (b) and 0.02
Hz (c).

Fig. 10. Fracture surface morphologies: (a) low magnification image covering the three different regions; (b) fracture region obtained in air; (c, d) fracture regions
obtained under in situ hydrogen charging with load frequencies of 0.2 Hz (c) and 0.02 Hz (d), respectively.

4. Discussion high-density of dislocations in the SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy

4.1. Hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack propagation
The present study suggests that the in situ hydrogen charging can
significantly assist fatigue crack propagation in the SLM processed
Inconel 718 alloy. Although the cellular structure walls always work as
the preferred cracking paths both in air and under in situ hydrogen
charging during fatigue, a decrease of critical accumulation of strain
induced by hydrogen was observed based on the deformation micro­
structure analysis. This is in turn related to the distribution of residual
stain and hydrogen diffusion in the SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy.
During SLM process, the extremely high cooling rate in a range of
105 ~ 106 K/s [49–51] leads to a high ratio of temperature gradient and
crystal growth rate, assisting the formation of cellular structures
[52,53]. These cellular structures appear with Nb-rich Laves phase and
(Fig. 3e). Moreover, the residual strain also mainly distributes along the
cellular structure walls, as indicated by the high GROD values in these
regions (Fig. 3b). When the alloy is fatigued, the external load together
with the residual strain can further increase the stress concentration
along the cellular structure walls, which have been confirmed by the
digital image correlation tests on SLM manufactured 316L stainless steel
[54]. In addition, there are brittle particles such as Laves phase
distributing at the cellular structure walls in the studied alloy (Fig. 3e),
which can further promote the stress concentration and crack initiation
[55–57]. When the sample was fatigued under in situ hydrogen
charging, the hydrogen atoms can rapidly diffuse into the sample along
the cellular structure walls [30,31]. The stress concentration in these
regions further enhances the hydrogen diffusion [58–60]. Therefore,
hydrogen-related cracks prefer to initiate and propagate along the
cellular walls and result in the acceleration of hydrogen-assisted fatigue

7
Z. Fu et al.
crack growth rate by multiple hydrogen-induced cracking mechanisms.
The deformation microstructure analysis near the fatigue crack
suggests that the fatigue crack propagation process both in air and
hydrogen is a plasticity-related procedure. It is known that the mis­
orientations revealed by KAM and GROD values, qualitatively reflect the
plastic strains inside the alloy and correspond to the density of
geometrically necessary dislocations [61,62]. In addition, the disloca­
tion evolution undergoes a sequence from individual dislocation to
dislocation tangles and further to cell structures, which directly related
to the increase of the plastic strain [63,64]. The quantitative analysis of
plastic deformation based on the initial EBSD data reveals lower
misorientation in the presence of hydrogen than that tested in air
(Fig. 8). The ECCI analysis suggests plenty of plastic deformation with
the features of sub-grains and dislocation cells in the cellular structures
along the crack obtained in air, and these deformation features extend to
more than a dozen microns (Fig. 5d). However, only some dislocation
tangles can be observed in the cellular structures near the crack obtained
in hydrogen (Fig. 6d and 7d). This indicates that the plastic deformation
at the crack tip is suppressed in the presence of hydrogen but not
localized as reported elsewhere [65–67]. The molecular dynamic sim­
ulations suggest that the dislocation emission is blocked on the crack
surface in hydrogen concentrated areas, inducing hardening effect
[68,69] and brittle cleavage fracture [70]. These results have also been
confirmed by the experimental studies [66,71]. The lower misorienta­
tion value elucidates a fact that lower plastic strain amplitude is needed
for the crack to propagate in hydrogen environment. This reduction of
plasticity and accelerated fatigue crack propagation by hydrogen may be
attributed to the hydrogen-induced suppression of dislocation emission
and mobility [68–70].
4.2. The effect of load frequency
It has been reported that the decrease of load frequency would affect
the kinetic of hydrogen uptake at the crack tip and increase the fatigue
crack growth rate in iron and steels over a wide range of load frequency
[32–35]. A deviated tendency was also observed that the acceleration of
hydrogen-assisted fatigue crack growth rate decreases with the increase
of load frequency in the range of higher than 0.1 Hz, but it reverses when
the load frequency is lower than 0.1 Hz [36,37]. In this work, two load
frequencies of 0.2 Hz and 0.02 Hz were chosen and fell in the range of
the special load frequency correlation range. As shown in Fig. 4, the
fatigue crack growth rate in the SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy is
significantly accelerated with the decrease of load frequency when
tested under in situ hydrogen charging, even the load frequency de­
creases to as low as 0.02 Hz. This is related to the hydrogen
Fig. 11. Schematics showing the hydrogen concentration gradients ahead of the crack tips during crack propagation under different load frequencies. CL, C0, X, b and
Δa refer to local H concentration, initial H concentration, absolute distance, crack opening displacement and crack advancement, respectively.
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International Journal of Fatigue 160 (2022) 106848
concentration gradient in the vicinity of the crack tip as discussed in the
following.
The analytical model for hydrogen diffusion suggests that the
hydrogen distribution ahead of the crack tip is not homogeneous, but a
peak of hydrogen concentration appears at the place with distance about
1.53 times of the crack opening displacement away from the crack tip
[72]. Kotake et al. [73] further developed this model by considering the
effect of cyclic loading time. It suggests that the effect of hydrogen
diffusion appears in a wider region for longer loading time, due to
enough time for hydrogen diffusion. Moreover, the longer loading time
in one cycle during fatigue, i.e., lower load frequency, results in higher
peak of hydrogen concentration. This means lower load frequency leads
to a larger amplitude of hydrogen concentration fluctuation, as sche­
matically shown in Fig. 11, where the X axis refers to the relative dis­
tance from the crack tip X/b (X is the absolute distance, b is the crack
opening displacement), Y axis denotes the relative hydrogen concen­
tration ratio CL/C0 (CL is the local H concentration, C0 is the initial H
concentration). Based on the model, the peak value of CL/C0 at the load
frequency of 0.02 Hz is higher than that at 0.2 Hz. Moreover, the
penetration depth of hydrogen ahead of the crack tip at the load fre­
quency of 0.02 Hz is also longer than that at 0.2 Hz. The larger ampli­
tude of concentration fluctuation and longer penetration of hydrogen
ahead of the crack tip can induce longer crack advancement (Δa) in the
same periods, resulting in higher acceleration of hydrogen-assisted fa­
tigue crack growth rate.
In addition, lower load frequency also stands for lower strain rate in
the region of the crack tip. Previous studies on the response of hydrogen
embrittlement (HE) to the strain rate have suggested that the HE sus­
ceptibility increases with the decrease of strain rate, which is related to
the hydrogen-dislocation interactions [74–77]. This effect will also
result in a longer crack advancement in a period of load cycle. However,
some literatures have highlighted that the upper limit of the fatigue
crack growth rate acceleration may correspond to very low load fre­
quency down to 0.001 Hz depending on the hydrogen charging condi­
tion [78,79]. If the currently studied SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy
has the upper limit of fatigue crack growth rate acceleration at a certain
load frequency, it is then necessary to investigate the fatigue crack
growth rate at ultralow load frequency in the future.
5. Conclusions
The effects of hydrogen and load frequency on the fatigue crack
propagation behavior of SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy were inves­
tigated in this work. Based on the multiple fracture features and various
deformation microstructures corresponding to the different testing
Z. Fu et al.
conditions, the following conclusions are obtained:
(1) Hydrogen uptake significantly accelerates the fatigue crack
growth rate. Moreover, such acceleration increases with the decrease of
load frequency.
(2) The sample fatigue-tested in air shows typical TG cracking mode,
while both TG and IG cracking are observed on the sample tested under
in situ hydrogen charging. The fatigue cracks prefer to propagate along
the cellular structure walls due to the rapid diffusion coefficient of
hydrogen in these regions.
(3) The hydrogen uptake and the decrease of load frequency also
induce the decrease of plastic deformation along the crack. The decrease
of critical strain for crack propagation resulting in the acceleration of
fatigue crack growth rate.
(4) Lower load frequency induces higher amplitude of concentration
fluctuation and larger penetration depth of hydrogen ahead of the crack
tip, thus further increases the acceleration of the fatigue crack growth
rate.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support by the
Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province in China (Grant No.
2021JJ10056), the Hunan Special Funding for the Construction of
Innovative Province (2019RS1001) and the Postdoctoral Foundation of
Central South University (140050030).
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