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This study is concerned with the early stages of hydrogen embrittlement on an atomistic scale. We employed density functional theory to investigate hydrogen diffusion through the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces of γ-Fe. The preferred adsorption sites and respective energies for hydrogen adsorption were established for each plane, as well as a minimum energy pathway for diffusion. The H atoms adsorb on the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces with energies of ∼4.06 eV, ∼3.92 eV and ∼4.05 eV, respectively. The barriers for bulk-like diffusion for the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces are ∼0.6 eV, ∼0.5 eV and ∼0.7 eV, respectively. We compared these calculated barriers with previously obtained experimental data in an Arrhenius plot, which indicates good agreement between experimentally measured and theoretically predicted activation energies. Texturing austenitic steels such that the (111) surfaces of grains are preferentially exposed at the cleavage planes may be a possibility to reduce hydrogen embrittlement.
The adsorption of O atoms on the Fe(1 1 0) surface has been investigated by density functional theory for increasing degrees of oxygen coverage from 0.25 to 1 monolayer, to follow the evolution of the Osingle bondFe(1 1 0) system into an FeO(1 1 1)-like monolayer. We found that the quasi-threefold site is the most stable adsorption site for all coverages, with adsorption energies of ∼2.8–4.0 eV per O atom. Oxygen adsorption results in surface geometrical changes such as interlayer relaxation and buckling, the latter of which decreases with coverage. The calculated vibrational frequencies range from 265 to 470 cm−1 for the frustrated translational modes and 480–620 cm−1 for the stretching mode, and hence are in good agreement with the experimental values reported for bulk FeO wüstite. The hybridization of the oxygen 2p and iron 3d orbitals increases with oxygen coverage, and the partial density of states for the Osingle bondFe(1 1 0) system at full coverage resembles the one reported in the literature for bulk FeO. These results at full oxygen coverage point to the incipient formation of an FeO(1 1 1)-like monolayer that would eventually lead to the bulk FeO oxide layer.
The effect of magnetism on hydrogen adsorption and subsurface diffusion through face-centred cubic (fcc) γ-Fe(0 0 1) was investigated using spin-polarised density functional theory (s-DFT). The non-magnetic (NM), ferromagnetic (FM), and antiferromagnetic single (AFM1) and double layer (AFMD) structures were considered. For each magnetic state, the hydrogen preferentially adsorbs at the fourfold site, with adsorption energies of 4.07, 4.12, 4.03 and 4.05 eV/H atom for the NM, FM, AFM1 and AFMD structures. A total barrier of 1.34, 0.90, 1.32 and 1.25 eV and a bulk-like diffusion barrier of 0.6, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.3 eV were calculated for the NM, FM, AFM1 and AFMD magnetic states. The Fe atoms nearest to the H atom exhibited a reduced magnetic moment, whereas the next-nearest neighbour Fe atoms exhibited a non-negligible local perturbation in the magnetic moment. The presence of magnetically ordered structures has a minimal influence on the minimum energy path for H diffusion through the lattice and on the adsorption of H atoms on the Fe(0 0 1) surface, but we computed a significant reduction of the bulk-like diffusion barriers with respect to the non-magnetic state of fcc γ-Fe.