Hydrogen Effects on Metals
Hydrogen effects on metals is one of the fields of excellence in the Engineering Materials research group. These are studied using thermal desorption spectroscopy, electrochemical and plasma charging and mechanical in-situ testing.
The rapidly growing market for advanced high-strength steels for automotive production significantly increases the risks and costs associated with hydrogen-related failures of vehicle components. At the same time, the development of hydrogen-based transportation and corresponding infrastructures bring challenging demands for engineering materials, especially in terms of their resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. This is also an area of interest in ensuring the safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel, where it is also important to understand the effects of hydrogen on the mechanical and creep properties of copper and cast iron, and the effect of hydrogen on the mechanism of stress corrosion cracking in these materials.
New concepts and equipment for thermal desorption analysis of hydrogen in materials will be commercially explored for the high-sensitivity measurement of hydrogen concentration in materials and analysis of hydrogen uptake and trapping behavior with high accuracy, especially in advanced high strength steels. The steel infrastructure needed for hydrogen economy (hydrogen production, storage, distribution) is vast. In addition to the measurement equipment, the team will offer customers services for data interpretation, analysis and statistics.
Personnel: professors Hannu Hänninen (emerItus), Sven Bossuyt, Iikka Virkkunen, other: Yuriy Yagodzinskyy, Evgeny Malitckii.
Aalto University research themes: Materials and sustainable use of resourses.