Hydrogen effects in engineering materials

• Promotion of research in the field of hydrogen-compatible materials
• Networking of experts from various industries
• Optimization of hydrogen-specific materials testing and hydrogen analysis
• Active participation in shaping a hydrogen-powered economy

Pioneering activities

Hydrogen is needed in large quantities in the short to medium term to contribute to a significant reduction of CO₂ emissions as a climate-neutral energy carrier. This contrasts with the fact that particularly high-strength steels can be damaged by hydrogen embrittlement and may fail spontaneously. With the adoption of the "National Hydrogen Strategy" in June 2020, the German Federal Government has placed hydrogen at the center of attention, simultaneously addressing fundamental questions of feasibility to many areas of technology, as the latent risk of hydrogen embrittlement looms over all applications. From hydrogen production, for example in electrolyzers, through transport in pipelines and storage in high-pressure tanks or caverns, to combustion in engines or turbines, numerous industrial sectors and companies must deal with whether their components and materials are compatible with hydrogen. This necessity has given rise to a variety of research activities, which often lead to duplications due to reasons of urgency. The outcome is increased costs and the risk of delaying the large-scale implementation of the hydrogen economy and thus missing climate targets. A consortium of various research institutions and industrial companies active in the field of hydrogen related materials research thus offers a great opportunity to focus activities and thereby steer the future of hydrogen technology.

Consolidating knowledge, optimizing testing and analysis

The risk of hydrogen embrittlement has been a subject of research since the 1950s. Driven by lightweight construction in the automotive sector, increasingly higher material strengths were achieved, which increased the sensitivity to hydrogen embrittlement. From this line of research, the basic mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement are known. Numerous documented damages were due to cathodic stress corrosion cracking through contact with aqueous electrolytes. However, in the context of implementing hydrogen as an energy carrier, gaseous atmospheres are usually present, often in conjunction with very high pressures and elevated temperatures. For this reason, the demand for materials testing in pressurized hydrogen has increased enormously in a short time. The requirements for hydrogen analytics are also becoming increasingly higher, both in terms of detection limits and the spatial resolution allowing to differentiate individual microstructural phases.
Since neither the standards organizations nor the manufacturers of testing equipment can keep up with the exponentially increasing demand, there are partly diverging approaches to hydrogen-specific materials testing and hydrogen analysis, which in extreme cases can lead to the determination of incorrect material properties.
Therefore, the specialty committee "Hydrogen effects in engineering materials" and its associated working groups are developing and verifying uniform strategies for conducting such tests and analyses. Moreover, the committee serves the purpose of consolidating existing knowledge, connecting representatives of industries and universities, and forming new cooperations. In this way, critical research in the area of hydrogen-compatible materials is accelerated and the implementation of a hydrogen-powered economy can be actively shaped.