New approaches to understanding hydrogen embrittlement in steels

第一个项目的目标是利用各种表征技术，包括低温聚焦离子束（FIB）和原子探针断层扫描（APT），对钢中的氢脆进行基本了解。预计氢的生产、运输和利用将大幅扩大，需要对基础设施进行大量投资。氢经济的最大挑战之一是储存和运输。目前的氢储存技术涉及物理储存系统，如加压罐（通常由钢制成，可能会因低温和氢暴露而脆化-或两者的协同效应）或材料，如可以以反应形式储存氢的金属，然后需要提取。人们对钢在低温下的氢脆了解甚少，缺乏机理上的见解意味着材料选择或定制合金的开发仍然具有挑战性。在室温下抗脆化的钢当然是可用的，但往往是昂贵的，它们在低温下的行为还没有得到很好的研究。对氢在金属中溶解过程的基本理解的提高，以及微观结构特征作为氢陷阱位置的作用，将有助于筛选用于氢服务的钢。因此，iCASE项目将重点关注氢在不同钢中的溶解、扩散和分布的实验研究--在低温条件下研究和表征钢。使用帝国理工学院的新实验设施，我们有机会在理解这些特性方面创造一个台阶式的变化。

The aim of the first project is to develop a fundamental understanding of hydrogen embrittlement in steels, using a variety ofcharacterisation techniques including cryogenic Focussed Ion Beam (FIB) and Atom Probe Tomography (APT).The anticipated major expansion in hydrogen production, transportation and utilisation calls for massive investments ininfrastructure. One of the biggest challenges of the hydrogen economy is storage and transport. Current hydrogen storagetechnology involves either physical storage systems such as pressurised canisters (typically made from steel, which may beembrittled by the cryogenic temperatures and hydrogen exposures- or the synergistic effects of both) or materials such ashydrides which can store hydrogen in a reacted form, that will then need to be extracted. Hydrogen embrittlement in steel atcryogenic temperatures is poorly understood - and the lack of mechanistic insights means that material selection or bespokealloy development remains challenging. Steels that are resistant to embrittlement at room temperature are certainly availablebut tend to be expensive, and their behaviour under cryogenic temperatures has not been well-explored. Improved fundamentalunderstanding of the processes of hydrogen dissolution in the metal, and the role of microstructural features that act ashydrogen trap sites, will assist in screening steels for hydrogen service. This iCASE project will therefore focus on theexperimental investigation of hydrogen dissolution, diffusion and distribution in different steels - with the steels studied andcharacterized under cryo-conditions. Using new experimental facilities at Imperial, we have a chance to create a step-changein understanding the properties.