Examination of hydrogen embrittlement in FeAl by means of in situ electrochemical micropillar compression and nanoindentation techniques

The effect of the electrochemical potential on the indent load-displacement curve and pillar stress strain curve, especially the unstable elastic-plastic transition (pop-in), was studied in detail. The observations showed a reduction in the pop-in load for both experiments due to in situ hydrogen charging. Clear evidence is provided that hydrogen atoms facilitate homogenous dislocation nucleation.