Correlation of acoustoelasticity with hydrogen saturation during destruction

Abstract

The surface effect of acoustic anisotropy in steel and aluminum industrial alloys was experimentally detected. Changes in the integral value of acoustic anisotropy in 10–15 times were observed after removing the surface layer with a thickness of 100 microns in steel specimens and 250 microns in aluminum specimens. The correlation between distributions of acoustic anisotropy and hydrogen concentrations in surface layer of specimens was found. It was suggested that the surface effect of acoustic anisotropy occurs due to the influence of microcrack systems localized in a surface layer of metal. This result can be used to improve existing approaches to estimating of corrosion damage, fatigue, mechanical stresses and plastic deformations of technical structures by using acoustic anisotropy.