TY - JOUR A1 - Pfretzschner, Beate A1 - Schaupp, Thomas A1 - Hannemann, Andreas A1 - Schultz, Michael A1 - Griesche, Axel T1 - On the Genesis of Artifacts in Neutron Transmission Imaging of Hydrogenous Steel Specimens N2 - Hydrogen-charged supermartensitic steel samples were used to systematically investigate imaging artifacts in neutron radiography. Cadmium stencils were placed around the samples to shield the scintillator from excessive neutron radiation and to investigate the influence of the backlight effect. The contribution of scattered neutrons to the total detected intensity was investigated by additionally varying the sample-detector distance and applying a functional correlation between distance and intensity. Furthermore, the influence of the surface roughness on the edge effect due to refraction was investigated. KW - Refraction KW - Neutron imaging KW - Hydrogen KW - Supermartensitic steel KW - Backlight KW - Scattering PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-506587 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging6040022 VL - 6 IS - 22 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Switzerland AN - OPUS4-50658 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 - 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 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Repair welding of pressurized in-service hydrogen pipelines - A review on current challenges and strategies N2 - As energy carrier of the future, green hydrogen can make a decisive contribution to a sustainable energy supply. Particularly important is the decarbonization of heavy industry. Therefore, a reliable supply of hydrogen must be guaranteed. A hydrogen pipeline grid can achieve this purpose. In Europe concrete plans for a hydrogen pipeline grid already exist, as the so called “European Hydrogen backbone”. As building a completely new pipeline grid is economically not justifiable, a dual-way strategy of repurposing natural gas (NG) pipelines and newly built pipelines is intended. Long distance pipeline grids require regular maintenance and repairs. For natural gas (NG) pipelines in-service welding is state of the art. Concepts such as hot-tapping (drilling into pressurized pipelines) and “stoppling” (sealing off pipeline sections after installing bypasses or pressure relieves) allow the repair of damaged pipeline sections or the installation of new branches without shutting the pipeline down, which in most cases isn’t possible from an economic standpoint. The EIGA 121/14 guideline already pointed out in 2014 that “a hydrogen hot-tap shall not be considered a routine procedure”. This shows that the determination of the transferability of these repair concepts to hydrogen pipelines is of utmost importance. Due to the degrading effects of hydrogen on mechanical proper-ties, commonly referred to as “hydrogen embrittlement” it is necessary to understand and investigate the occurring effects. In the special case of repair welding on in-service hydrogen pipelines an increased hydro-gen uptake due to a large heat input and microstructural changes in the material needs to be considered. Therefore, material degradation must be investigated to determine whether modifications of repair procedures are necessary to ensure a reliable and safe hydrogen transportation via pipelines. For this reason, this paper gives an overview on existing weld repair concepts and its risks and limitations in terms of hydrogen absorption and possible embrittlement effects when transferred to hydrogen pipelines. The complexity lies in a large variety of materials (low alloyed steels), pipeline diameters and corresponding welded joints. The material compatibility of materials in used (repurposed NG-pipelines) and new condition must be investigated. Particularly for repurposed/used pipelines the effect of a pre-matured/corroded inner surface and sometimes insufficient documentation of the material “history” needs to be considered. An overview on ongoing and completed R&D-projects with respect to repair concepts for hydrogen pipelines and hydrogen effects on pipeline materials is given. The focus hereby lies on possible methods of material testing and modeling. Its current difficulties, limits and possible solution will be discussed. T2 - IIW Intermediate Meeting, Com. II-A CY - Incheon, Republic of Korea DA - 12.03.2024 KW - Hydrogen KW - Repair welding KW - Pipelines KW - In-service PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59674 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas T1 - Call for interested people to contribute to series of comprehensive papers on welding and joining of components for sustainable energy systems N2 - Joining and welding technologies are of high importance for the manufacturing of components and parts used in sustainable energy generation, conversion, and transport. In that connection, offshore and on-shore installed wind turbines are of high interest for the generation of electrical energy as well as photo-voltaic systems (solar cells). The electricity can be either directly transported or conversed via power-to-gas e.g., to hydrogen. In that scope, electrolyzer up to MW-range are of interest as well as the conver-sion back to electricity via fuel cells. In addition, hydrogen is a key element of the decarburization of in-dustries as well as the mobility sector encompassing sea, air and land transportation driven by hydrogen or its derivates. Well-known examples cover the direct reduction of iron ore to replace the conventional blast furnace process up to gas turbines or fuel cells for home-end use. All mentioned technologies re-quire reliable components, which are to a high extend dependent on joining and especially welding pro-cessing of materials. Especially, the (petro-) chemical industry has many years of experience with both materials used in hydrogen applications. The challenge is e.g., the transition to mass production of sys-tem components of electrolyzers/fuel cells and for distribution grids. At this point, the scalability of cur-rently applied joining processes often limits the economic efficiency, whereas especially laser welding or additive manufacturing will be of high interest. In that connection, it is very important to provide answers by joint research of universities, institutes, and industrial companies. Very often, solutions are already available and “just” have to be investigated and adapted for the new application, like repair welding of NG pipelines. For that reason, we want to set up a series of comprehensive papers with the aforementioned title. The idea is to get an in-depth but manageable overview of the importance of joining technologies in sustaina-ble energy generation, conversion, and transport encompassing current processes, limitations, and fur-ther perspectives. In that connection, the additive manufacturing is gaining more and more attention. If applicable, current challenges in the adaption or creation of new standards/regulations shall be addressed. T2 - IIW Intermediate Meeting, Com. II-A CY - Incheon, Republic of Korea DA - 12.03.2024 KW - Hydrogen KW - Welding KW - Comprehensive study KW - Component manufatcturing KW - Additive manufacturing PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59676 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erxleben, Kjell T1 - Component test for the assessment of in-service welding on/onto pressurized hydrogen pipelines N2 - Hydrogen is seen as the energy carrier of the future. Therefore a reliable infrastructure to transport hydrogen in a large scale is needed. A so called European hydrogen backbone out of long distance transmission pipelines is planned by European countries to create a hydrogen transport infrastructure. Due to economic reasons this will be achieved by new build pipelines such as repurposed natural Gas (NG) pipelines, converted to hydrogen useage. A general suitability for hydrogen service of low alloyed pipeline steel, as it is used for NG service today, is given. But in case of necessary in-service welding procedures in terms of e.g. hot-tapping and stoppling, the risk of a critical hydrogen uptake into the pipe materials due to much higher temeperatures while welding and the possibility of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) needs to be closely investigated. The presentation gives an overview of the current H2-SuD project, investigating the feasability of in-service welding on future hydrogen pipelines. Therefore, component-like demonstrators were developed to test (I) the additional hydrogen uptake due to in-service welding under hydrogen pressure and (II) to measure the temperature field due to different welding parameters and demonstrator geometries, especially on the inner pipe wall surface. Collected data will be used to validate a numerical simulation of the thermal field and additionally the hydrogen diffusion in the pipeline material. T2 - Presentation at The University of Manchester CY - Manchester, United Kingdom DA - 12.09.2025 KW - In-service KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - Welding PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64129 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Hydrogen trap characterization in 200 and 1,000 bar charged CoCrNi medium entropy alloy compared to steel AISI 316L N2 - Multiple principal element alloys (MPEAs) represent a new class of metallic materials. MPEAs, such as the CoCrNi medium entropy alloy (MEA), have attracted considerable research attention as potential materials to replace, for example, austenitic steels in high-pressure hydrogen environments. Due to the relatively new alloy concept, studies on the specific hydrogen diffusion and trapping behavior of high-pressure hydrogen-charged CoCrNi MEAs are rare so far. For this reason, a CoCrNi-MEA was investigated and compared to an austenitic stainless steel, AISI 316L. Both materials were subjected to high pressure hydrogen loading for two different pressures: 200 bar and 1,000 bar. After charging, thermal desorption analysis (TDA) was used with three heating rates from 0.125 K/s to 0.500 K/s to clarify the specific hydrogen desorption and trapping behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to characterize hydrogen diffusion and trapping in 1,000 bar high-pressure charged CoCrNi. For this purpose, the underlying TDA spectra were analyzed in terms of peak deconvolution into a metallurgically justifiable number of defined peaks. The individual peak temperatures and activation energies “EA” were calculated. The following conclusions can be drawn from the results obtained: (1) Exposure to 200 bar or 1,000 bar leads to an increase in hydrogen absorption, regardless of the material investigated, expressed by a significantly increased desorption rate at 1,000 bar. However, the effusion peaks typically occur only at high temperatures. The (2) TDA showed that a four-peak deconvolution scenario was sufficient to describe the trapping behavior and the "EA" indicated the dominance of irreversible traps. In addition, the average trapping energy is higher than in the 316L. The (3) charge pressure related hydrogen solubility was in the order of: CoCrNi-MEA < 316L for both pressures and (4) charging at 1000 bar results in an average concentration of 49 wt.ppm (CoCrNi-MEA) and > 75 wt.ppm (316L). In summary, the CoCrNi-MEA was characterized by a reduced solubility, but very deep entrapment compared to the 316L. For this reason, further application potentials of the MEA may arise. T2 - FEMS Euromat 2025 - 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes CY - Granada, Spain DA - 15.09.2025 KW - Medium entropy alloy KW - Hydrogen KW - Trapping KW - Diffusion KW - High-pressure charging PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64160 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Component test for the assessment of in-service welding on/onto pressurized hydrogen pipelines N2 - Hydrogen is the energy carrier of tomorrow and requires a reliable large-scale transport infrastructure. In addition to new pipelines, the conversion of existing natural gas (NG) pipeline grids is an essential part. The transport of hydrogen is fundamentally different from that of NG, as hydrogen can be absorbed into the pipeline material. Given the effects of hydrogen embrittlement, the material compatibility (low alloy steels in a wide range of strengths and thicknesses) must be investigated. However, pipelines e.g. require maintenance or the need for installation of additional outlets with the necessity of welding on/onto the pipelines while they are still in service, i.e. with gas flow under high pressure, such as the well-known "hot tapping". This in-service welding poses challenges for hydrogen operations. The challenge can be roughly divided into the possible austenitization of the inner pipe material exposed to hydrogen, the welding itself, which causes an increased temperature range. Both lead to a significant increase in hydrogen solubility and diffusivity compared to room temperature. In addition, possible surface reactions of the present iron oxides (e.g. magnetite or hematite) with the hot hydrogen should be considered. In this context, the knowledge of hydrogen pipelines is scarce due to the lack of operational experience. Fundamental experimental investigations are required to investigate the transferability from NG to hydrogen pipeline grids. For this reason, the present study presents a specially designed mock-up / demonstrator concept for the realistic assessment of the welding process conditions. The mock-up was designed to allow in-situ temperature measurement during the welding process as well as ex-post sample extraction for quantification of the absorbed hydrogen concentration. For safety reasons, the required volume of pressurized hydrogen was limited by inserting a solid cylinder to ensure a 1 cm thick layer of hydrogen gas. Welding experiments on the DN60 and DN200 pressurized mock-ups showed the possibility of safe welding on or onto pressurized hydrogen pipelines. Indeed, the austenitizing temperature was reached on the inner surface of the pipeline, especially on thinner-walled pipelines, using current welding parameter recommendations. This corresponded to an increased hydrogen uptake in the welded area of several ppm. From this point of view, the suggested component concept is a viable strategy for the screening of several materials and welding parameter combinations under realistic operational conditions. T2 - FEMS Euromat 2025 - 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes CY - Granada, Spain DA - 15.09.2025 KW - In-service welding KW - Pipeline KW - Hydrogen KW - Component test PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64159 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Joining technologies for hydrogen components: current need and future perspectives N2 - The study provides an overview of the aspects of joining and its importance in manufacturing of components for the more and more important field of hydrogen as key factor for the energy transition to a decarburized future. To this end, the fundamentals of the technology fields of hydrogen production, storage, transport, and application are presented and the state of the art of manufacturing of components for hydrogen technologies by joining is summarized. Based on representative examples from practice, research and development, the importance of joining technology in hydrogen technologies is clearly highlighted and perspectives for the future are derived. From a macroeconomic perspective, the focal points, or trends of joining technologies here include: the erection of new infrastructure for hydrogen storage and transport, and the safe conversion of existing natural gas infrastructure and its challenges for welded materials. In addition, we show the problems that are anticipated with in-service repair welding of hydrogen pipelines. In hydrogen applications, the efficient mass production of fuel cells and electrolysers is becoming increasingly important. For that reason, the importance of additive manufacturing is highlighted. Finally, the challenges for technical regulations and standardization by using hydrogen are shown. T2 - AJP 2023: 3rd International Conference on Advanced Joining Processes 2023 CY - Braga, Portugal DA - 19.10.2023 KW - Hydrogen KW - Infractstructure KW - Joining KW - Welding KW - Research PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58674 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Kromm, Arne A1 - Mente, Tobias A1 - Brackrock, Daniel A1 - Czeskleba, Denis A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas T1 - Component test for the assessment of delayed hydrogen-assisted cracking in thick-walled SAW joints for offshore applications N2 - Offshore wind turbines continuously increase in size and weight and demand adequate offshore foundations concepts like monopiles, tripods, or jackets. These components are typically constructed using submerged arc welding (SAW) with high-strength thick steel plates like the S420ML. During welding, the occurrence of delayed hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC) must be anticipated. HAC is a critical combination of the local hydrogen concentration within a susceptible microstructure under certain mechanical load, i.e., the occurring (welding) residual stresses. The welding sequence of the thick-walled plates complicates the residual stress distribution due to the necessary repeated thermal cycling, i.e., welding seam/layer deposition to fill the joint. For that purpose, SAW with two-wire-technique was used to weld a specially designed and prototype-like mock-up of a real component with a thickness of 50 mm, filled with over 20 passes and a seam length of 1000 mm. Additional welded stiffeners simulated the effect of a high restraint, to achieve critical HAC conditions. The necessity of a minimum waiting time (MWT) before the NDT can be conducted (to exclude HAC) was critically verified by the application of ultrasonic testing of the welded joint at different time-steps of the NDT of up to 48 h after the completion welding. The residual stresses were determined by a robot XRD goniometer. Tensile residual stresses up to the yield limit are found both in the weld metal and in the heat-affected zone. Numerical modeling allowed the qualitative estimation of the hydrogen diffusion in the weld. No noticeable HAC occurrence was identified and confirms the high cracking resistance of the investigated material. Finally, the applicability of the MWT concept should be critically discussed. KW - Hydrogen KW - Cold cracking KW - Minimum Waiting Time KW - Offshore steel grade KW - Component test PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-591981 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-023-01658-5 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-59198 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -