Researchers at the State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials at Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) have designed a fully quantitative in situ transmission electron microscopy nanomechanical test method to quantify the interaction between hydrogen and dislocation at the level of a single dislocation for the first time, using single-crystal pure iron as a model material.

The results were published in Nature Materials under the title Quantitative tests revealing hydrogen enhanced dislocation motion in α-iron.

Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the experimental scheme to study the effect of hydrogen on dislocation motion

Associate Professors Xie Degang and Shan Zhiwei of Xi'an Jiaotong University are the co-corresponding authors of the paper, while doctoral student Huang Longchao of Xi'an Jiaotong University and Associate Professor Chen Dengke of Shanghai Jiaotong University are the co-first authors of the paper. Also involved in the work were Professors Ma En and Li Suzhi from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Professors Li Ju and Dr Zhang Yin from MIT, Professor Zhu Ting from Georgia Tech and Professor Dierk Raabe from the Max Planck Institute, Germany.