Hydrogen in metals - from fundamentals to the design of new steels (HEmS)

氢是最轻的元素，有一些显著的特性和用途。它的同位素将在未来半个世纪为人类提供核聚变燃料。即使是现在，它也可能是最清洁的汽车燃料，利用太阳能从海水中提取燃料以及随后的全球运输被认为是解决我们能源危机的潜在方案。由于它的原子大小，氢不容易包含，因为它很容易通过固体材料的晶格扩散，经常通过量子力学隧道。这个问题有其阴暗的一面；一百多年来，人们一直知道氢会导致高强度钢的灾难性失效。所有焊工都知道要保持他们的手工金属电弧电极干燥，以避免在焊接过程中分解水产生氢气。我们的实验和建模所产生的合金将直接影响下一代汽车的燃油效率、风力涡轮机和管道的使用寿命，并导致新的气门齿轮、氢气处理和运输系统的发展。我们期望这将提高我们项目合作伙伴的盈利能力和英国工业的可持续性。该项目将开发用于上述应用的超高强度钢的新设计程序，以抵抗由于氢的存在而产生的脆化。这将通过材料表征、测试和建模方面的一系列进步来实现。将开发新的实验技术来确定工程合金中缺陷的结构以及它们如何捕获氢。了解这个捕获过程是理解氢如何以及为什么使钢脆的关键一步。从原子到连续体的一系列建模技术将被开发和应用，以提供有关脆化机制的详细信息，以及这些机制如何依赖于钢的微观结构。这将允许识别抗氢脆的微观结构。这些信息将用于指导合金设计和热处理新程序的开发，从而使钢具有抗氢腐蚀的能力。这些技术将通过加工一系列使用我们的新方法设计的新合金并检查它们在氢气存在下的机械性能来验证。

Hydrogen is the lightest of the elements and has some remarkable properties and uses. Its isotopes will provide the nuclear fusion fuel for humanity in the next half century. Even now, it is probably the cleanest available fuel for motor cars and its extraction from sea water using solar power and subsequent transport around the globe is mooted as a potential solutions to our energy crisis. Because of its atomic size, hydrogen is not easy to contain as it diffuses readily through the lattice of solid materials, frequently by quantum mechanical tunnelling. The problem has a darker side; hydrogen has been known for over a hundred years to cause catastrophic failure in high strength steels. All welders know to keep their manual metal arc electrodes dry to avoid the generation of hydrogen from the decomposition of water during welding. The alloys resulting from our experiments and modelling will impact directly on the fuel efficiency of the next generation of automobiles, the service lifetimes of wind turbines and pipelines and lead to the development of new valve gear, and hydrogen handling and transport systems. We expect this to lead to improved profitability of our project partners and the sustainability of UK industry.The project will develop new design procedures for ultra-high strength steels that resist embrittlement due to the presence of hydrogen for use in the above applications . This will be achieved through a series of advances in materials characterisation, testing and modelling. New experimental techniques will be developed to identify the structure of defects in engineering alloys and how they trap hydrogen. Understanding this trapping process is a key step in understanding how and why hydrogen embrittles steels. A range of modelling techniques from the atomistic through to the continuum will be developed and employed to provide detailed information about the embrittling mechanisms and how these depend on the steel microstructure. This will allow microstructures to be identified that are resistant to hydrogen embrittlement. This information will be employed to guide the development of new procedures for the design of alloys and heat treatments that result in steels that are resistant to attack by hydrogen. These techniques will be validated by processing a range of new alloys designed using our new methodology and examining their mechanical performance in the presence of hydrogen.