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Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) affects all major high-strength structuralmaterials and as such is a major impediment to lightweighting e.g. vehicles andhelp reduce carbon-emissions and reach net-zero. The high-strength 7xxx seriesaluminium alloys can fulfil the need for light, high strength materials, andare already extensively used in aerospace for weight reduction purposes.However, depending on the thermomechanical and loading state, these alloys canbe sensitive to stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) through anodic dissolution andhydrogen embrittlement. Here, we study at the near-atomic-scale the intra- andinter-granular microstructure ahead and in the wake of a propagating SCC crack.Moving away from model cases not strictly relevant to application, we performedan industry-standard test on an engineering Al-7XXX alloy. H is foundsegregated to planar arrays of dislocations and to grain boundaries that we canassociate to the combined effects of hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity(HELP) and hydrogen-enhanced decohesion (HEDE) mechanisms. We report on aMg-rich H-rich amorphous oxide on the corroded crack surface and evidence ofMg-related diffusional processes leading to dissolution of the strengtheningeta-phase precipitates ahead of the crack. We show ingress of up to 1 at% O,i.e. well above the solubility limit of O in Al, near the oxide-metalinterface, while no increased level of H is found in the matrix. We provide anarray of discussion points relative to the interplay of structural defects,transport of solutes, thereby changing the resistance against crackpropagation, which have been overlooked across the SCC literature and preventaccurate service life predictions.

Revisiting stress-corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement in 7xxx-Al alloys at the near-atomic-scale