TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan T1 - H2HohlZug: Standardisation of a New, Cost-effective Method for Material Characterisation for the Hydrogen Economy N2 - The feasibility of the method for slow strain tensile tests has been demonstrated in several studies, leading to the establishment of the ISO/TC 164/SC 1/WG 9 ISO committee for its standardisation. Questions have emerged during this process, that currently prevent the method from being standardised for hydrogen testing. These questions relate to specimen geometry, specimen manufacturing and gas quality and are being systematically addressed in the TransHyDE-H2HohlZug project. T2 - TrasnsHyDE Abschlusskonferenz CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 25.03.2025 KW - Hydrogen KW - Hydrogen Embrittlement KW - High-Pressure Gaseous Gas KW - Hollow Specimen Technique KW - TransHyDE KW - H2HohlZug PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62823 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Konert, Florian A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan A1 - Grimault de Freitas, Tomás A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Sobol, Oded A1 - Böllinghaus, Thomas T1 - Investigation of resistance to gaseous hydrogen of a longitudinal weld seam in a X65 pipeline using the hollow specimen technique N2 - The constantly increasing demand for renewable energy sources leads to the necessity of transporting large amounts of hydrogen. Since pipelines enable a cost-effective way for the distribution of gaseous hydrogen, the interaction of hydrogen and the pipeline materials must be carefully investigated as hydrogen can cause a degradation of the mechanical properties under certain conditions. Especially welds, which are assumed to be more susceptible to the degradation enhanced by hydrogen, are of great interest. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gaseous hydrogen on the mechanical properties of an X65 pipeline, and the longitudinal submerged arc welding (SAW) welded joint. The tests are conducted using the hollow specimen technique on two types of specimens: one extracted from the base material (BM) and the other extracted as a cross-weld (CW) specimen consisting of BM and weld seam. The specimens are charged in situ under a pressure of 60 bar and tested using slow strain rate (SSR) tensile tests with a nominal strain rate of 10−5 s−1. The properties obtained of specimens tested in hydrogen atmosphere are compared to the properties of comparable specimen in inert argon atmosphere as a reference. The performed tests showed a decrease of the reduction of area (RA) from 72% in inert atmosphere to 52% in hydrogen atmosphere for the CW specimen and a decrease from 73% in inert atmosphere to 51% for the BM. Metallographic analyses showed the crack initiation between fine-grained heat-affected zone (FGHAZ) and BM for the specimens tested in hydrogen atmosphere as well as for the reference specimens. This leads to the conclusion that the location of the crack initiation does not change due to the presence of gaseous hydrogen. KW - Hydrogen KW - Hollow specimen technique KW - Pipeline KW - SSRT KW - Hydrogen embrittlement KW - Cross-weld specimen PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-624658 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-025-01953-3 SN - 0043-2288 SN - 1878-6669 VL - 69 IS - 3 SP - 861 EP - 870 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-62465 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan T1 - Evolution of tensile testing methodologies for hydrogen embrittlement in austenitic steels: a comparative study N2 - The energy transition towards hydrogen utilisation has increased the demand for reliable testing methods to evaluate the susceptibility of metallic materials to hydrogen degradation. However, traditional electrochemical pre-charging techniques have limitations in represent-ing realistic gaseous hydrogen exposure conditions. This study presents three comparative analyses of tensile testing methodologies, focusing on the differences between electrochem-ical pre-charging, gaseous pre-charging, and in-situ testing using hollow specimens for aus-tenitic steels AISI 304L and 316L type austenitic steels. Based on the results obtained, the first comparison reveals that electrochemically pre-charged and gaseously pre-charged specimens exhibit different behaviours regarding the impact on the mechanical properties. This effect can be retraced to the varying distribution of hydrogen throughout the specimens. Although comparable embrittlement was observed for similar hydrogen concentrations, the relationship appears to be non-systematic. The second comparison evaluates the performance of pre-charged hollow specimens (300°C, 100 bar, 21 days) in comparison to hollow specimens tested in-situ under 200 bar hydrogen during slow strain rate tensile tests (SSRT). While pre-charged specimens show a slight de-crease in elongation at fracture and a noticeable decrease in reduction of area (RA), in-situ tested specimens exhibit significantly more pronounced embrittlement. This is in accord-ance with the results of Michler et. al. In the third comparison, geometry effects between pre-charged conventional and pre-charged hollow specimens are explored. In this case, the hydrogen effect appears to be of the same order of magnitude for both specimen types, although some differences are ob-served. The study's findings underscore the importance of considering differences between test methods when assessing materials’ compatibility with hydrogen. It specifically emphasises the need for in-situ testing with gaseous hydrogen to better represent real conditions in ap-plications within the hydrogen sector. Furthermore, the study provides an initial compari-son between conventional and hollow specimens, demonstrating their capability to reveal hydrogen effects. However, additional research is essential to enhance the comparability of results yielded by these testing methods. T2 - European Conference on Fracture 2024 CY - Zagreb, Croatia DA - 26.08.2024 KW - Hollow Specimen Technique KW - Hydrogen KW - Austenitic Stainless Steel KW - Hydrogen Testing KW - AISI 316L PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60929 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan T1 - Influence of strain rate on the effect of hydrogen in pre-charged 316L stainless steel: A comparison of conventional and hollow specimen testing N2 - The growing demand for hydrogen requires an expansion of testing capabilities to assess the performance of metallic materials under hydrogen exposure. Considering only gaseous atmospheres, there is a variety of in-situ and ex-situ methods used to investigate the material behavior while or after exposed to hydrogen, respectively. Among these methods, a more conservative one is the in-situ testing at slow strain rates (SSRT) using conventional tensile specimens. While results obtained by a conservative procedure may be more applicable in many cases than those of ex-situ experiments, the tests are quite demanding, leading to limited testing capacities and high costs, especially for very slow strain rates. A possible solution that can enable in-situ testing at relatively low cost is the hollow specimen technique which gained increasing interest in the last decade. The main reasons are the minimal volume of hydrogen required and the elimination of a high-pressure hydrogen autoclave leading to significantly lower costs and enabling more laboratories worldwide to perform these tests. However, interpreting results from hollow specimens, especially when compared to conventional ones, remains a significant challenge. To address this, an experimental study was conducted using conventional and hollow specimens, both uncharged and pre-charged. Pre-charging was achieved using pure hydrogen (5.0, i.e. 99.999 %) at 100 bar and 300 °C for around 21 days. In order to obtain suitable reference specimens, other specimens were stored in argon at 100 bar and 300 °C for the same period of time. The tests were performed at various strain rates, down to 1E-6 1/s. While these ex-situ experiments are not directly comparable to in-situ tests with both types of specimens, they do provide some insights into the differences between the results of hollow and conventional specimens. Therefore, the elongation at fracture and reduction of area (RA) were compared, among other aspects. In addition, fractographical analyses were carried out using SEM images. Elongation at fracture was not significantly affected by hydrogen in conventional specimens, but it was slightly reduced in hollow specimens. RA, on the other hand, was lower for tests with hydrogen in both types of specimens across all strain rates. Moreover, the strain rate did not appear to influence hydrogen embrittlement in conventional specimens whereas in hollow specimens, tests conducted at higher strain rates (1E-4 1/s) showed a greater impact of hydrogen on elongation at fracture than those at lower strain rates (1E-6 1/s), which is contrary to the typical expectation. These findings suggest that the influence of hydrogen differs between conventional and hollow specimens, possibly due to factors such as surface roughness and differing stress states. However, further experiments are needed to fully understand these differences, including in-situ experiments to understand potential differences in hydrogen absorption between the two specimen types. T2 - EPRI Workshop on Hydrogen Embrittlement CY - Oxford, England, United Kingdom DA - 23.06.2024 KW - Stainless steel KW - Hollow specimen KW - Pre-charging KW - Hydrogen PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60494 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan T1 - Performance of Conventional and Additive Manufactured Austenitic Stainless Steels under Gaseous Hydrogen Environment using in-situ Hollow Specimen Technique N2 - Hydrogen and its derivatives (e.g. ammonia) are considered as a suitable energy carrier in the future supply of renewable energy. Hydrogen transportation systems require pipes, valves and fittings, among other components. In this sense, austenitic stainless steels are commonly used structural materials for pure hydrogen applications. Stable austenitic alloys, like AISI 316L, are often assumed to be practically unsusceptible to hydrogen embrittlement. At the same time, a number of studies show the influence of hydrogen even in 316L under some circumstances. Some other studies state that this embrittlement could be avoided by using steel grades with a higher nickel equivalent which contributes to a more stable austenitic phase. Nonetheless, 316L is widely used in hydrogen atmospheres since many years because of lower costs and positive practical experience. For these reasons, not only 316L but also 304 could be further utilized by identifying the exact constraints. With increasing demand for components regarding hydrogen applications, additive manufacturing technologies are getting increasingly important complementary to conventional manufacturing. In the context of additive manufacturing, 316L is a common material as well. The manufacturing process offers great advantages due to higher freedoms in design and the possibility for customized components in small batches. For example, valves with improved flow characteristics and reduced component weight can be produced. Nevertheless, there is still lack of experience and experimental results concerning additively manufactured parts under hydrogen service. Therefore, the influence on the material properties for additively manufactured parts in hydrogen environments needs to be further investigated. In the present work, slow strain rate testing (SSRT) has been applied using hollow specimens. This testing procedure allows to perform practicable and faster in-situ tests in comparison to tests in autoclaves and investigate the influence of hydrogen on the mechanical properties. Conventional AISI 304 and 316L specimens as well as additively manufactured 316L specimens were tested at room temperature and a pressure of 200 bar. Elongation at fracture and relative reduction of area (RRA) have been used to evaluate the influence of hydrogen. It is shown that the influence of hydrogen is more pronounced in 304 than in 316L. Furthermore, potentially influencing factors such as surface roughness, microstructure and porosity are discussed. T2 - International Hydrogen Conference CY - Park City, Utah, USA DA - 17.09.2023 KW - Hydrogen KW - Hollow Specimen Technique KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Austenitic Steels PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58776 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Drexler, A.-K. A1 - Konert, Florian A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan A1 - Hodžić, E. A1 - Pastore, S. A1 - Domitner, J. A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Sommitsch, C. A1 - Böllinghaus, Thomas T1 - Effect of Tensile Loading and Temperature on the Hydrogen Solubility of Steels at High Gas Pressure N2 - The hydrogen solubility in ferritic and martensitic steels is affected by hydrostatic stress, pressure, and temperature. In general, compressive stresses decrease but tensile stresses increase the hydrogen solubility. This important aspect must be considered when qualifying materials for high‐pressure hydrogen applications (e.g., for pipelines or tanks) by using autoclave systems. In this work, a pressure equivalent for compensating the effect of compressive stresses on the hydrogen solubility inside of closed autoclaves is proposed to achieve solubilities that are equivalent to those in pipelines and tanks subjected to tensile stresses. Moreover, it is shown that the temperature effect becomes critical at low temperatures (e.g., under cryogenic conditions for storing liquid hydrogen). Trapping of hydrogen in the microstructure can increase the hydrogen solubility with decreasing temperature, having a solubility minimum at about room temperature. To demonstrate this effect, the generalized law of the hydrogen solubility is parameterized for different steels using measured contents of gaseous hydrogen. The constant parameter sets are verified and critically discussed with respect to the high‐pressure hydrogen experiments. KW - Hydrogen KW - Solubility KW - Temperature KW - Tensile loading KW - Analytical calculation PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-586701 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/srin.202300493 SN - 1611-3683 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-58670 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan A1 - Richter, Tim T1 - Hydrogen diffusion and desorption characteristics of a CoCrFeMnNi high entropy and a CoCrNi medium entropy alloy N2 - High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are innovative high-performance materials that have attracted more and more research attention. HEAs are characterized by a solid solution of typically five equiatomic metallic elements. In addition, medium-entropy alloys (MEA, with three elements) are of interest and become more and more important. Depending on the alloy concept, HEAs and MEAs show exceptional mechanical properties, especially high-strength and ductility combinations at both cryogenic and elevated temperatures combined with excellent corrosion resistance. Future structural HEA/MEA components can be exposed to potential applications with hydrogen containing environments like high-temperature water in pressurized nuclear reactors or aerospace structures. Other potential applications could be in materials for vessel walls in the field of cryogenic and high-pressure hydrogen storage. So far, the susceptibility of HEAs/MEAs to hydrogen assisted cracking (if any) and the hydrogen diffusion is not investigated in detail yet and can limit or extend possible applications of HEA/MEA as structural materials. In our work, we focused on the hydrogen absorption, diffusion, and distribution in a HEA (CoCrFeMnNi the original Cantor-alloy) and a MEA (CoCrNi). Cathodic hydrogen charging was carried out for the hydrogen ingress, and thermal desorption analysis (TDA) revealed complex hydrogen trapping in both alloy types up to 300 °C. The absorbed total hydrogen concentrations were > 100 ppm for the HEA and > 40 ppm for MEA. In addition, the assessment of the peak deconvolution is not trivial and must consider both experimental and microstructure influences. T2 - 4th International Conference on Metals and Hydrogen - Steely & Hydrogen 2022 CY - Ghent, Belgium DA - 11.10.2022 KW - Hydrogen KW - High-entropy alloy KW - Multiple principal element alloy KW - Thermal desorption analysis KW - Diffusion PY - 2022 SP - 1 EP - 11 CY - Ghent, Belgium AN - OPUS4-56076 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Mente, Tobias A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas T1 - Experimental and numerical characterization of hydrogen diffusion in thick-walled submerged arc welded joint of S420G2+M offshore steel grade N2 - Offshore wind turbines are an important goal in national energy strategies worldwide. Foundation structures are manufactured from submerged arc welded (SAW) plates with thicknesses up to 200 mm. In that connection, high-strength steels like the S420G2+M are more and more applied offering the possibility for increased stability and load-bearing capacity of the foundations. These offshore steel grades can show a susceptibility for delayed hydrogen assisted cold cracking of the weld joints. For that purpose, a minimum waiting time (MWT) of up to 48 h (dependent on applied standards) is recommended before non-destructive testing is allowed and conducted. But this concept is based on older steel grades that have been used for three or more decades. Nowadays, the metallurgical improvements (clean steels, proper rolling, and heat treatment) of base materials and well as welding consumables must be anticipated. Hence, the MWT concept should be critically discussed as it is assumed to be very conservative. For that reason, the focus of this study was to investigate the diffusion behavior in S420G2+M steel and its multi-layer SAW joint. Electrochemical permeation experiments were carried at room temperature. Boundary conditions were anticipated in terms of using different sample thicknesses. From the experimental data, hydrogen diffusion coefficients and absorbed diffusible hydrogen concentrations had been calculated. It was shown that hydrogen diffusion in the base material is increased compared to the weld metal. In addition, the sample thickness had a significant on the calculated diffusion coefficients. The minimum and maximum diffusion coefficients had been used for numerical modelling of the hydrogen diffusion in the welding joint. It became clear that a MWT must be always regarded together with a critical initial diffusible hydrogen concentration for the evaluation of a possible delayed cracking as diffusion times were mostly > 48 h due to the thick plates. T2 - 4th International Conference on Metals and Hydrogen - Steely & Hydrogen 2022 CY - Ghent, Belgium DA - 11.10.2022 KW - Hydrogen KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Diffusion KW - Minimum waiting time KW - Electrochemical permeation PY - 2022 SP - 1 EP - 11 CY - Ghent, Belgium AN - OPUS4-56075 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Konert, Florian A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan T1 - Application of an in-situ H2Test Method N2 - The degradation effect of hydrogen on the mechanical properties of steels is well known, but still not sufficiently understood. The fast and safe market ramp up of hydrogen technologies makes it evident to evaluate a wider understanding of this topic. In general it is often described as hydrogen embrittlement. Therefore it is desirable to achieve a test method which is able to provide material properties under hydrogen atmosphere in an easy way. Currently mechanical tests under hydrogen atmosphere are executed in autoclaves. For this technique complex hardware is needed, therefore tests are expensive and test capacities are only available in a small scale. The shown test method promises a trendsetting approach for reducing costs and machine time by using hollow specimen. T2 - 4th International Conference on Metals and Hydrogen - Steely & Hydrogen 2022 CY - Ghent, Belgium DA - 11.10.2022 KW - Hydrogen KW - Hollow specimen KW - In-situ KW - Test procedure PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56032 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan A1 - Konert, Florian T1 - Experimental and numerical characterization of hydrogen diffusion in thick-walled submerged arc welded joint of S420G2+M offshore steel grade N2 - Offshore wind turbines are an important goal in national energy strategies worldwide. Foundation structures are manufactured from submerged arc welded (SAW) plates with thicknesses up to 200 mm. In that connection, high-strength steels like the S420G2+M are more and more applied offering the possibility for increased stability and load-bearing capacity of the foundations. These offshore steel grades can show a susceptibility for delayed hydrogen assisted cold cracking of the weld joints. For that purpose, a minimum waiting time (MWT) of up to 48 h (dependent on applied standards) is recommended before non-destructive testing is allowed and conducted. But this concept is based on older steel grades that have been used for three or more decades. Nowadays, the metallurgical improvements (clean steels, proper rolling, and heat treatment) of base materials and well as welding consumables must be anticipated. Hence, the MWT concept should be critically discussed as it is assumed to be very conservative. For that reason, the focus of this study was to investigate the diffusion behavior in S420G2+M steel and its multi-layer SAW joint. Electrochemical permeation experiments were carried at room temperature. Boundary conditions were anticipated in terms of using different sample thicknesses. From the experimental data, hydrogen diffusion coefficients and absorbed diffusible hydrogen concentrations had been calculated. It was shown that hydrogen diffusion in the base material is increased compared to the weld metal. In addition, the sample thickness had a significant on the calculated diffusion coefficients. The minimum and maximum diffusion coefficients had been used for numerical modelling of the hydrogen diffusion in the welding joint. It became clear that a MWT must be always regarded together with a critical initial diffusible hydrogen concentration for the evaluation of a possible delayed cracking as diffusion times were mostly > 48 h due to the thick plates. T2 - 4th International Conference on Metals and Hydrogen - Steely & Hydrogen 2022 CY - Ghent, Belgium DA - 11.10.2022 KW - Hydrogen KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Minimum Waiting Time KW - Cold Cracking KW - Offshore steel grade PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56008 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan T1 - Hydrogen diffusion and desorption characteristics of a CoCrFeMnNi high entropy and a CoCrNi medium entropy alloy N2 - Future structural components made of the novel high-entropy (HEA) or medium-entropy alloys (MEA) components can be potentially exposed to hydrogen containing environments like high-temperature water in pressurized nuclear reactors or aerospace structures. Further applications are vessels wall materials for cryogenic or high-pressure hydrogen storage. So far, the susceptibility of HEA/MEAs to hydrogen assisted cracking (if any) and the hydrogen diffusion is not investigated in detail yet and can limit or extend possible applications of HEA/MEA as structural materials. In our work, we focused on the hydrogen absorption, diffusion, and distribution in a HEA (Co20Cr20Fe20Mn20Ni20, the original Cantor-alloy) and a MEA (Co33.3Cr33.3Ni33.3). Conventional cathodic hydrogen charging was carried out for the hydrogen ingress in the materials. Thermal desorption analysis (TDA) via carrier gas hot extraction with coupled mass spectrometry revealed complex hydrogen trapping in both alloy types up to 300 °C. The absorbed total hydrogen concentrations were ≥ 70 ppm for the HEA and approximately 40 ppm for the MEA-type. Although both materials have different chemical composition, the TDA spectra were comparable. In addition, it was shown that the consideration of the sample geometry is an important influence on the sample temperature. It decreases the effective applied heating rate, which must be anticipated for each hydrogen peak after deconvolution of the spectra. This increases the activation energy and shifts the peak to lower temperatures. As a result, microstructure effects can be separated from experimental boundary conditions like the concentration gradient due to the charging process and later thermal activation. T2 - 4th International Conference on Metals and Hydrogen - Steely & Hydrogen 2022 CY - Ghent, Belgium DA - 11.10.2022 KW - High-entropy alloy KW - Diffusion KW - Hydrogen KW - Thermal desorption analysis KW - Trapping PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56007 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Wetzel, Annica A1 - Oczan, Ozlem A1 - Nietzke, Jonathan A1 - Richter, Tim A1 - Schröpfer, Dirk T1 - Hydrogen diffusion and local Volta potential in high- and medium-entropy alloys N2 - High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are characterized by a solid solution of minimum five and medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) of minimum three principal alloying elements in equiatomic proportions. They show exceptional application properties, such as high-strength and ductility or corrosion resistance. Future HEA/MEA-components could be exposed to hydrogen containing environments like vessels for cryogenic or high-pressure storage where the hydrogen absorption and diffusion in these materials is of interest. In our study, we investigated the HEA Co20Cr20Fe20Mn20Ni20 and the MEA Co33.3Cr33.3Ni33.3. For hydrogen ingress, cathodic charging was applied and diffusion kinetic was measured by high-resolution thermal desorption spectros-copy using different heating rates up to 0.250 K/s. Peak deconvolution resulted in high-temperature desorption peaks and hydrogen trapping above 280 °C. A total hydrogen concentration > 40 ppm was identified for the MEA and > 100 ppm for HEA. This indicates two important effects: (1) delayed hydrogen diffusion and (2) considerable amount of trapped hydrogen that must be anticipated for hydrogen assisted cracking phenomenon. Local electrochemical Volta potential maps had been measured for the hydrogen free condition by means of high-resolution Scanning Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (SKPFM). T2 - Symposium on Materials and Joining Technology CY - Online meeting DA - 07.09.2020 KW - Hydrogen KW - High-entropy alloy KW - Diffusion KW - Scanning kelvin probe force microscopy KW - Corrosion PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-511684 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/882/1/012015 VL - 882 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - IOP Publishing CY - Bristol AN - OPUS4-51168 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -