Doha: Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), is enhancing its corrosion research capabilities with the commissioning of a new testing facility for examining hydrogen interaction with metals.
Established under QEERI’s Corrosion Centre, the facility will contribute to the development of knowledge-based predictive models. These will help Qatar’s major industries cope with the challenges related to materials integrity towards establishing a hydrogen economy. The new facility enables QEERI scientists to study the effect of hydrogen on material mechanical properties at different length scales, from nanometre to centimetre. Deploying the most advanced techniques makes it possible to measure the hydrogen content and then correlate it with the change in mechanical properties.
Hydrogen is the smallest and most abundant atom in the universe. The atom’s small size makes it easy to ingress metals and move around in the crystal structure of the metal at ambient temperature. This results in hydrogen embrittlement, which is the local enrichment of the hydrogen in the metal microstructure, leading to unexpected cracking and failure of metallic components in contact with hydrogen.
Hydrogen embrittlement, in turn, is creating a bottleneck in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy – particularly as the energy ecosystem is evolving, and hydrogen is emerging as an important energy carrier. “We are currently involved in several projects looking into this challenge, including additively manufactured and 3D-printed alloys for application in conditions where the risk of hydrogen embrittlement is high,” said Dr. Afrooz Barnoush, Principal Scientist at the Corrosion Center and the Material for Hydrogen project leader.
“Additive manufacturing provides possibilities to tailor-made microstructure of the metals to make them more resistant to hydrogen embrittlement. However, finding the appropriate microstructure and building strategies to achieve these optimum microstructures requires intensive research work. For this, we are collaborating with leading industrial players in Qatar, and globally.”
Since its launch in 2019, QEERI’s Corrosion Centre has been committed to engaging and working closely with stakeholders in Qatar to determine industry needs and provide technical and research support in the area of corrosion and materials engineering.
