The effect of a constant electric current upon the migration of interstitial atoms dissolved in a crystal in the region of a tensile crack tip was estimated. The calculation took account of the plastic deformation that was produced in the vicinity of the crack tip in the loaded sample by dislocation motion in active slip planes of the crystal under the action of mechanically and electrically induced shear stresses, Joule-heat release, the Thomson effect and ponderomotive forces. It allowed for the effect of gas exchange, near to the crack edges, upon the evolution of the distribution of interstitial impurity atoms. The time-dependence of the stress intensity factor was found for the cases of presence or absence of a constant electric current near to the crack tip. Numerical calculations were performed for an α-Fe crystal.

Effect of Electric Current on the Migration of Hydrogen Interstitial Atoms in the Region of a Crack Tip in a Crystal. D.N.Karpinski, S.V.Sannikov: Physics of the Solid State, 2003, 45[3], 472-6