On Wed, Jan 20, 2016 at 9:44 AM, Bob Higgins <[email protected]> wrote:
When the hydrogen gets loaded into the iron as a monatomic species and > encounters a void/dislocation/vacancy, it may hang around in there long > enough for it to encounter another monatomic hydrogen and then it forms an > H2 molecule. The H2 molecule cannot escape. Eventually more and more H2 > molecules are formed in the void and it becomes high pressure, putting a > great deal of stress on the lattice causing the embrittlement. I had a similar idea with the notion of 4He generation possibly causing earthquakes in Oklahoma and other places where fracking is being used. https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg106856.html Bob Cook did not think the suggestion was plausible because helium is not a very good lubricant. But I wonder if that's the only relevant variable in such a dynamic. I suppose that as a 4He++ ion emerges from the surface of the reaction and takes on two electrons its effective volume would increase significantly. Eric
