(Invited) H-Mat Materials Compatibility Consortium

Abstract

The H-Mat consortium (https://h-mat.org) was launched by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to address R&D challenges regarding materials compatibility with hydrogen. H-Mat is led by Sandia National Laboratories and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and includes participation from Savannah River National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory, along with partners across industry and academia collaborating on joint R&D projects and coordinated R&D efforts. Key R&D thrusts include: 1) addressing the compatibility of pipeline materials with blends of hydrogen and natural gas, as part of DOE’s HyBlend project, 2) enhancing the life of polymers (e.g. seal materials) in high-pressure hydrogen service, 3) improving fracture resistance of low-cost steels in hydrogen service to enable their use in high-pressure hydrogen component, 4) assessing the rate at which cracks initiate in metals in hydrogen environments, to inform longer component service lives, and 5) assessing performance of metals in cryogenic hydrogen, at temperatures as low as 20K. This presentation will describe their ongoing R&D activities and prior accomplishments that have informed design and development of hydrogen components and associated codes and standards.