Hydrogen, in a gas form, is difficult to handle – you can’t pour it like a liquid fuel such as petrol, or easily transport it through existing pipelines. In order to store it in sufficient quantities to power a car, for example, it needs to be compressed at very high pressures or liquified at cryogenic temperatures.
It has a smaller molecular size than other gases traditionally associated with fossil fuels which means that it can easily leak or permeate into surrounding materials.
Hydrogen can cause materials to embrittle, leading to sudden and unpredictable failure, while the longevity of hydrogen combustion engine components can be shortened by increased oxidation rates occurring in high levels of water vapour.
In addition to all of these material challenges, the lack of standardisation, including testing, also adds to the complexities, leaving uncertainties about component certification.
In order to navigate the, often complicated, range of potential techniques and solutions available to help solve these challenges, and to help select or design materials to work in hydrogen environments, it is imperative to have the most up-to-date and relevant information.
This starts with an in-depth understanding of hydrogen-material interactions and physical-chemical properties: to understand why and how hydrogen molecules move inside materials, how they embrittle metals and potential mitigation strategies for these challenges.
Only with this understanding, one can design appropriate testing methodologies and standards tailored to specific applications. Testing for hydrogen embrittlement, for instance, is normally performed either by electrochemical or thermal hydrogen charging, however the two methods are not directly equivalent.
In order to make this understanding relevant, these topics must be understood in the context of the whole supply chain, including production techniques, storage/transportation and end use.
To help address the knowledge and expertise gap in these areas, Cranfield University will be delivering a focused Hydrogen Materials Challenges short course, supported by the Henry Royce Institute, that will run from the 17-20 March 2025.
The course will bring together a range of expertise from across this constantly evolving field, including speakers from Cranfield University, Rolls-Royce, Frazer-Nash, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Manchester.
We will provide both practical and experimental knowledge on the fundamental material challenges faced by all components in the hydrogen supply chain: production, storage & distribution, and use.
Targeted theoretical sessions will tackle, in detail, aspects of hydrogen production, transport, embrittlement, permeation, material properties at cryogenic temperatures, oxidation in high levels of water vapour and material challenges in electrolysis and fuel cells.
This course will be suitable for novices and experts alike and would be perfect for, amongst others, researchers, engineers and managers involved in material selection or design for hydrogen applications, testing, standardisation and policymaking.
For anyone interested in finding out more about our course, or the hydrogen materials research that the Royce at Cranfield team are involved in, please visit Hydrogen Materials Challenges short course, or contact royce@cranfield.ac.uk.
Dr Francesco Fanicchia, Senior Lecturer in High Temperature Surface Engineering, Cranfield University.
Dr Edith Rogers, Research Fellow in Radiation Detector Material Development, Cranfield University.