Chris San Marchi

Fracture Resistance and Fatigue Crack Growth of X80 Pipeline Steel in Gaseous Hydrogen

Gaseous hydrogen is a convenient medium to store and transport energy. As existing petroleum-based platforms are electrified, such as with the growth of fuel cell systems, hydrogen is becoming an attractive fuel which must be distributed, stored and dispensed. Hydrogen is used extensively in refining of petroleum products, and often distributed by pipeline. However, there remains a need to quantify the mechanical properties of low-cost steels in gaseous hydrogen and to relate the measured performance to the variety of microstructures that characterize steels. This study is part of a larger effort to characterize a broad range of steels manufactured for pipelines and to measure their fracture and fatigue resistance in gaseous hydrogen. The fracture resistance and fatigue crack growth rates of two microstructural variations of X80 pipeline steel were measured in gaseous hydrogen at pressure of 21 MPa. The performance of these steels was found to be similar to the performance of other ferritic steels that are currently used to distribute gaseous hydrogen.Copyright

Microstructure and Mechanical Property Performance of Commercial Grade API Pipeline Steels in High Pressure Gaseous Hydrogen

The continued growth of the world’s developing countries has placed an ever increasing demand on traditional fossil fuels. This increased demand for fossil fuels has lead to increasing research and development of alternative energy sources. Hydrogen gas is one of the potential alternatives under development. It is anticipated that the least expensive method of transporting large quantities of hydrogen gas is through steel pipelines. It is well known that hydrogen embrittlement has the potential to degrade steel’s mechanical properties. Consequently, the current pipeline infrastructure used in hydrogen transport is typically operated in a conservative fashion, in particular lower operating pressures, lower strength steels, and heavier pipe wall thicknesses. This operational practice is not conducive to economical movement of significant volumes of hydrogen gas as an alternative to fossil fuels. The degradation of the mechanical properties of steels in hydrogen service depends on the microstructure of the steel. An understanding of the relationship of mechanical property degradation of a given microstructure on exposure to hydrogen gas under pressure can be used to evaluate the suitability of the existing pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen service and guide alloy and microstructure design for new hydrogen pipeline infrastructure. To this end, the microstructures of relevant steels and their mechanical properties in relevant gaseous hydrogen environments must be fully characterized to establish suitablity for transporting hydrogen. A project to evaluate four commercially available pipeline steels alloy/microstructure performance in the presences of gaseous hydrogen has been funded by the US Department of Energy along with the private sector. The microstructures of four pipeline steels were characterized and tensile testing was conducted in gaseous hydrogen and helium at pressures of 5.5 MPa (800 psi), 11 MPa (1600 psi) and 20.7 MPa (3000 psi). Based on reduction of area, two of the four steels that performed the best across the pressure range were selected for evaluation of fracture and fatigue performance in gaseous hydrogen at 5.5 MPa (800 psi) and 20.7 MPa (3000 psi). This paper describes the work performed on four commercially available pipeline steels in the presence of gaseous hydrogen at pressures relevant for transport of hydrogen in pipelines. Microstructures and mechanical property performances are compared. In addition, recommendations for future work related to gaining a better understanding of steel pipeline performance in hydrogen service are discussed.Copyright

Micromechanisms of Hydrogen-Assisted Cracking in Super Duplex Stainless Steel Investigated by Scanning Probe Microscopy

Understanding the micromechanisms of hydrogen-assisted fracture in multiphase metals is of great scientific and engineering importance. By using a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM), the micromorphology of fracture surface and microcrack formation in hydrogen-precharged super duplex stainless steel 2507 are characterized from microscale to nanoscale. The results reveal that the fracture surfaces consist of quasi-brittle facets with riverlike patterns at the microscale, which exhibit rough irregular patterns or remarkable quasi-periodic corrugation patterns at the nanoscale that can be correlated with highly localized plastic deformation. The microcracks preferentially initiate and propagate in ferrite phase and are stopped or deflected by the boundaries of the austenite phase. The hydrogen-assisted cracking mechanisms in super duplex stainless steel are discussed according to the experimental results and hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity theory.Copyright

Fatigue Life of Austenitic Stainless Steel in Hydrogen Environments

Gas-handling components for high-pressure gaseous hydrogen (such as in the fuel system of fuel cell electric vehicles) are manufactured almost exclusively from austenitic stainless steels. Relatively few studies, however, have evaluated the fatigue life of this class of steels in hydrogen environments, especially at low temperature. Low temperature is important for two reasons: (1) austenitic stainless steels show an apparent minimum in tensile ductility at temperature near 220K when exposed to hydrogen environments; and (2) the service temperature range for the automotive industry is generally consider to be 233K to 358K (−40°C to +85°C). While the temperature of maximum hydrogen embrittlement from tensile tests is very near the minimum of the service temperature range, it remains unclear if the same trend applies to fatigue life properties. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of hydrogen on fatigue life of strain-hardened Type 316L. The tested alloy features a relatively high nickel content of 12 wt% and high yield strength of 590 MPa. Additionally, reduction of cost and weight of hydrogen-handling components is necessary to enhance the competitiveness of fuel cell vehicle technologies. Cost reductions can be achieved by considering alloys with lower nickel content, while higher strength materials enable lower weight. Simple estimates of cost and weight reductions that can be realized are discussed.Copyright

Hydrogen-Assisted Twin Boundary Fracture of Type 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel at Low Temperature Investigated by Scanning Probe Microscopy

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) are used to characterize the morphology and strain-induced α′ martensite distribution on the twin fracture surfaces of hydrogen-precharged type 304 austenitic stainless steel tensile tested at 200–218 K. The STM images of the twin fracture surfaces show that the topographies of two conjugate fracture surfaces match well with each other at the micron scale but not at the nanoscale. Three sets of shallow grooves, intersecting each other at an angle of 120°, are formed on the twin fracture surfaces and the parallel nanoplate-like features are formed between the shallow grooves, resulting from the intersection of hydrogen-enhanced deformation bands with the twin boundary. The α′ martensite distribution observed by MFM from two conjugate fracture surfaces and longitudinal section of microcracks indicate that the fracture occurs along the phase boundary between the austenite and strain-induced α′ martensite near the twin boundary. The hydrogen-assisted twin boundary fracture processes are discussed in the theoretical framework of hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity (HELP).Copyright

Comparison of Stainless Steels for High-Pressure Hydrogen Service

Type 316/316L austenitic stainless steels are considered the benchmark for resistance to hydrogen embrittlement in gaseous hydrogen environments. Type 316/316L alloys are used extensively in handling systems for gaseous hydrogen, which has created engineering basis for its use. This material class, however, is relatively expensive compared to other structural metals including other austenitic stainless steels, thus the hydrogen fuel cell community seeks lower-cost alternatives. Nickel content is an important driver of cost and hydrogen-embrittlement resistance; the cost of austenitic stainless steels is largely determined by nickel content, while high nickel content generally improves resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. These circumstances create the perception that less-expensive grades of austenitic stainless steels are not appropriate for hydrogen service. While other grades of austenitic stainless steels are generally more susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement, in many cases the hydrogen-affected properties are superior to the properties of materials that are considered acceptable, such as aluminum alloys and A-286 austenitic stainless steel. In this paper, the properties of a variety of austenitic stainless steels are compared with the aim of promoting the consideration of a wider range of austenitic stainless steels to reduce cost and reduce weight of high-pressure components for hydrogen service.Copyright

Measurement of Fracture Properties for Ferritic Steel in High-Pressure Hydrogen Gas

Recently, the measurement of threshold stress intensity factors for various low alloy ferritic steels in high-pressure hydrogen gas of 103 MPa was performed, and it was revealed that the subcritical cracking threshold under rising displacement was lower than the subcritical cracking threshold for crack arrest under constant displacement. These experimental results demonstrate the importance of the testing method for evaluating the fracture properties in high-pressure hydrogen gas. We measured the subcritical cracking threshold under rising displacement for ASME SA-372 Grade J ferritic steels in high-pressure hydrogen gas at pressure up to 115MPa. In contrast to other reported procedures where the applied displacement was increased continuously, in this study crack length was determined using an unloading elastic compliance method. The values of the subcritical cracking threshold measured by the unloading elastic compliance method are consistent with previous measurements in which the applied displacement continuously increased. These results suggest the possibility that subcritical cracking thresholds do not depend on the applied displacement path, i.e., periodic unloading vs. continuously rising displacement.Copyright

Predictive Simulation of a Validation Forging Using a Recrystallization Model

Recrystallization is the process by which a strained microstructure is replaced by a strain-free set of grains through nucleation and growth. A constitutive model for recrystallization has been developed within the framework of an existing dislocation-based rate and temperature-dependent plasticity model. The theory includes an isotropic hardening variable to represent the statistically stored dislocation density, a scalar misorientation variable related to the spacing between geometrically necessary boundaries, and a variable that tracks the recrystallized volume fraction. The theory has been implemented and tested in a finite element code. Material parameters were fit to data from monotonic compression tests on 304L steel for a wide range of temperatures and strain rates. The model is then validated by using the same parameter set in predictive simulations of experiments in which wedge forgings were produced at elevated temperatures. From the forgings, tensile specimens were machined and tested. Model predictions of the final yield strengths compare well to the experimental results.

R&D for Safety Codes and Standards: Materials and Components Compatibility

This project addresses the following technical barriers from the Safety, Codes and Standards section of the 2012 Fuel Cell Technologies Office Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan (section 3.8): (A) Safety data and information: limited access and availability (F) Enabling national and international markets requires consistent RCS (G) Insufficient technical data to revise standards.

Hydrogen Transport and Hydrogen-Assisted Cracking in SUS304 Stainless Steel During Deformation at Low Temperatures

The behaviors of hydrogen transport and hydrogen-assisted cracking in hydrogen-precharged SUS304 austenitic stainless steel sheets in a temperature range from 177 to 298 K are investigated by a combined tensile and hydrogen release experiment as well as magnetic force microscopy (MFM) based on atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is observed that the hydrogen embrittlement increases with decreasing temperature, reaches a maximum at around 218 K, and then decreases with further temperature decrease. The hydrogen release rate increases with increasing strain until fracture at room temperature but remains near zero level at and below 218 K except for some small distinct release peaks. The MFM observations reveal that fracture occurs at phase boundaries along slip planes at room temperature and twin boundaries at 218 K. The role of strain-induced martensite in the hydrogen transport and hydrogen embrittlement is discussed.Copyright