FEM Analysis for Sinusoidal Perturbation of Hydrogen Permeation into a Steel Sheet

Abstract

Numerical calculation for the diffusion problem of hydrogen absorbed in a steel sheet during hydrogen permeation measurement using a double electrochemical cell was carried out. The finite element method (FEM) was applied to obtain the concentration distribution of hydrogen expressed by one- or two-dimensional Fick’s laws in the sheet, assuming that hydrogen concentration at the hydrogen entry interface was perturbed sinusoidally and both the hydrogen entry and exit reactions were in a mass-transport controlled process. From a comparison with experimental results reported previously, in which a phase shift from entry current to exit current waves observed on a single grain of the specimen sheet was at least two-times larger than that on two grains, it was estimated that the diffusion coefficient at a grain boundary located between two grains was five orders in magnitude larger than that on a single grain.