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

氢是元素中最轻的，具有一些显著的性质和用途。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，它也可能是汽车可用的最清洁的燃料，利用太阳能从海水中提取它，并随后在全球各地运输，被认为是解决我们能源危机的潜在解决方案。由于其原子大小，氢不容易被包含，因为它很容易通过固体材料的晶格扩散，通常是通过量子力学隧道。这个问题还有更阴暗的一面；一百多年来，人们一直知道氢会导致高强度钢的灾难性故障。所有焊工都知道保持手工金属弧焊条干燥，以避免焊接过程中水的分解产生氢气。我们的实验和建模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，并导致新气门装置以及氢处理和运输系统的开发。我们预计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。该项目将为超高强度钢开发新的设计程序，以防止由于氢的存在而在上述应用中出现脆化。这将通过在材料表征、测试和建模方面取得一系列进展来实现。将开发新的实验技术来识别工程合金中的缺陷结构以及它们是如何捕获氢的。了解这一捕获过程是理解氢如何以及为什么使钢铁脆化的关键一步。将开发和使用从原子论到连续体的一系列模拟技术，以提供关于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。这将使人们能够识别出抗氢脆的微结构。这些信息将被用来指导设计合金和热处理的新程序的开发，这些程序的结果是钢可以抵抗氢的侵蚀。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.