High pressure gas testing facility

New! View our latest video on the Hydrogen Test Facility at TWI.

TWI has almost half a century's experience of studying hydrogen embrittlement and cracking mechanisms and of developing solutions to avoid in-service cracking and failures.

Initially, this predominantly involved weldability testing and development of methods to overcome weld fabrication hydrogen cracking. This included production of nomograms that are now included in national standards.

Subsequently, specialised mechanical-environmental testing facilities were established to examine the sulphide stress cracking behaviour of materials in sour (H2S) environments, which is a form of hydrogen embrittlement.

This recently culminated in the development of a world-leading sour service cracking and corrosion fatigue test facility producing fatigue design curves for welded steel catenary risers in sour service, representing a significant step forward for the oil and gas industry. Research is currently underway into the use of fracture mechanics tests in sour environments.

Similarly, fundamental work on the hydrogen embrittlement of subsea materials, both ferritic steels and corrosion resistant alloys plus dissimilar joints, under cathodic protection, has been developed at TWI through ground-breaking work to define suitable test methods and associated understanding of material and weldment behaviour at TWI.

Richard Pargeter who is TWI's Technical Fellow, has over 30 years experience of hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms and is an acknowledged authority on the subject.

Together with Dr Ruth Hammond, who co-ordinates the high pressure hydrogen testing at TWI, and its fatigue and fracture experts, TWI can provide comprehensive expertise on the behaviour of welded fabrications in hydrogen duties.

Demand for the two facilities and allied expertise is expected to remain high and testing programs are already underway. Members requiring more information or wishing to discuss their requirements for material and weldment assessment should contact us.

Technical Paper

A temperature controlled mechanical test facility to ensure safe materials performance in hydrogen at 1000 bar. (Ruth Hammond and Richard Pargeter - HYSAFE 2007, San Sebastian)

Latest news

• High pressure H₂ equipment - Partners now called to European and UK Collaborative
• High pressure hydrogen testing - Commissioning trials nearing completion

High pressure H₂ equipment - Partners now called to European and UK Collaborative

TWI is now ideally placed to use its new high pressure hydrogen facilities as European industry moves towards a hydrogen economy. Already two Collaborative calls have been made relating to materials performance which necessitates use of high pressure equipment.

Careful design and build has been undertaken and commissioning of TWI's new facility is nearly complete. The equipment will allow mechanical testing to be carried out in hydrogen pressures of up to 1000bar, under dynamic tensile and fatigue loading regimes.

Development of safe, cost effective materials and fabrication routes are priorities for TWI. Richard Pargeter, is on the committee for ISO 11114-4 concerned with testing methods to allow selection of metallic materials resistant to hydrogen embrittlement.

Material will be loaded dynamically in the environment allowing the effect of hydrogen environmental embrittlement on tensile, low cycle fatigue and toughness properties of materials to be quantified. The equipment will be able to operate over a temperature range of +85 to -150°C.

Partners now called to European and UK Collaborative
Two forthcoming Collaborative calls are relevant to this subject area.

The first is part of Framework 7 through the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Joint Technology Initiative.

The second call is from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) which is a UK based initiative, and is entitled: Environmental Sustainability: Fuel cells and hydrogen technologies. More information on other forthcoming and anticipated TSB calls.

It is anticipated that demand for the two facilities will be high and testing programs are already planned. Industrial Members requiring more information should contact us.

High pressure hydrogen testing

Commissioning trials nearing completion
TWI's capabilities for high pressure hydrogen testing have recently been extended with the development of a new purpose designed test facility. Commissioning trials are almost complete and it is anticipated that the first research programme carried out for an Industrial Member using the facility will commence in early 2009.

The new facility will be capable of operating at 1000bar, within a temperature range of +85 to -150°C. The equipment is designed for testing in high pressure hydrogen but equally can be used for high pressure testing in other environments. A range of tests can be carried out including fatigue, tensile testing and fracture toughness testing.

The equipment supplements TWI's existing facility which is designed to operate up to 450bar at temperatures from ambient up to 85°C. The first facility was initially designed and built in order to carry out a large programme of tests for the Japan Research and Development Centre which is working closely with the TWI Industrial Member, Nippon Steel Corporation (NSC).

The work was part of a large programme being undertaken in Japan to provide data to support the activities in Japan related to the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel. In particular, test data are required to ensure the safe performance of hydrogen storage and handling systems for automotive applications and specifically for hydrogen storage tanks for passenger vehicles. Clearly safety issues are paramount and thus the performance of potential materials needs to be thoroughly researched in the appropriate environment.

The two testing facilities are located in an isolated building, which has a test booth for each pressure vessel, and a control room separated from the testing machines by steel doors with a safety interlock. The roof over the test booth is of lightweight construction, and would provide an easy path for any sudden pressure release or explosion. The combination of interlocks, gas and fire detectors and procedures, however, make this an extremely unlikely event.