Effect of hydrogen on creep behavior of Ti-6AI-4V alloy at room temperature

Room temperature creep was investigated for a commercial Ti-6Al-4V alloy containing 80 ppm to 720 ppm hydrogen. It was shown that dissolved hydrogen promoted the creep of this alloy at room temperature, markedly increasing both the creep strain and rate in the primary stage. The results indicated that dissolved hydrogen does not change the primary creep mechanism, but rather increases mobility of glide dislocations. It is suggested that dissolved hydrogen atoms soften the alloy at the beginning of deformation due to this increase in dislocation mobility. The initial deformation results in hydrogen build-up near the subboundaries due to the “sweeping” effect of the glide dislocations, thereby causing hydrogen embrittlement in a later stage of deformation.