Surrogate model-based assessment of particle damage behaviour of Al-Zn-Mg alloy

Recent research has found some particles with even stronger hydrogen trapping capacity than precipitates that are reported to be the origin of hydrogen embrittlement. Such particles can reduce hydrogen concentration at the interface between the precipitates and aluminium by absorbing hydrogen in their interiors, thus preventing the hydrogen embrittlement. However, this cannot be achieved if the particles, which have absorbed large amounts of hydrogen, are damaged due to hydrogen embrittlement. In this study, the hydrogen embrittlement of aluminium was observed in situ by X-ray CT, and the damage behaviour was analysed of all the particles. After exhaustive quantification of the size, shape, and spatial distribution of the particles, coarsening processes identified highly correlated design variables. Subsequently, particle damage behaviour was analysed utilizing a surrogate model using a support vector machine. The damage to particles could be described only by design variables representing size and shape, while those representing spatial distribution were removed through the coarsening processes. No change was observed in the damage behaviour particles with increasing hydrogen concentrations, and it was concluded that the dispersion of particles is effective in preventing hydrogen embrittlement.