Project description
Study aims to uncover why hydrogen causes resilient metals to break
Hydrogen is a crucial element in the clean energy transition. Safe and cost-effective storage and transport methods are essential but complicated since metals change their strength when they come in contact with hydrogen. Using high-resolution methods that include the hydrogen isotope tritium, the EU-funded TRITIME project aims to better understand how and why metal ductility is reduced owing to hydrogen absorption. TRITIME will carry out mechanical testing on samples containing only a few crystal defects to isolate and better observe this phenomenon, which is called hydrogen embrittlement.
Objective
Hydrogen is an indispensable element in the energy transition and expected to be key for decarburization of the European society. Hydrogen embrittlement – recognized and in focus of materials science since almost 150 years – still causes catastrophic failure until today. It is well-understood that all mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement materialize at the scale of individual defects, such as dislocations, grain- and phase-boundaries. But we are still missing a correlative measurement of the mechanical behaviour of individual defects and the local hydrogen content, which is urgently needed to assess the occurrence, importance and magnitude of mechanisms playing a role during hydrogen embrittlement. In aid of this, TRITIME for the first time facilitates the isolation, observation and quantification of hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms by TRITIum based microMEchanics. The mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement will be isolated by small scale mechanical testing on samples containing only a few crystal defects. The defect properties are observed and measured by in situ micromechanical experiments in the scanning electron microscope and at synchrotron beamlines. Simultaneously, TRITIME will monitor the local hydrogen content by observing the decay of tritium with high spatial resolution, for which a unique tool will be developed. In addition, post mortem analysis using atom probe tomography and secondary ion mass spectroscopy take advantage of the reduced mobility of tritium. TRITIME will provide unprecedented insights into the local hydrogen content of newly formed slip bands, mobile and immobile dislocations and fracture surfaces. Consequently, if successful, TRITIME will obtain a mechanism-based, quantitative understanding of HEDE, HELP and their interplay. In doing so, TRITIME sets the base for a mechanism-based optimization of microstructures used in distribution and storage of hydrogen and, therefore, is an indispensable tool towards Europe`s hydrogen society.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedHost institution
76131 Karlsruhe
Germany