New approaches to understanding hydrogen embrittlement in steels

第一个项目的目的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），对钢中的氢脆有一个基本的了解。预计氢气生产、运输和利用的大规模扩张需要大规模的基础设施投资。氢经济面临的最大挑战之一是储存和运输。目前的储氢技术包括物理存储系统，如加压罐（通常由钢制成，可能因低温和氢气暴露而变脆-或两者的协同效应）或材料，如氢化物，可以以反应形式储存氢气，然后需要提取。人们对钢在低温下的氢脆了解甚少，缺乏对机理的了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，但往往很昂贵，而且它们在低温下的行为还没有得到很好的探索。提高对氢在金属中溶解过程的基本理解，以及作为氢捕集点的微观结构特征的作用，将有助于筛选氢服务的钢。因此，iCASE项目将重点研究氢在不同钢中的溶解、扩散和分布，并在低温条件下对钢进行研究和表征。利用帝国理工学院的新实验设备，我们有机会在理解这些特性方面取得突破性进展。

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.