TY - CONF A1 - Erxleben, Kjell T1 - Component test to simulate critical conditions of hydrogen assisted cracking in submerged arc welded offshore steel N2 - Offshore Wind Turbines (OWT) are a key factor in tomorrow's sustainable energy generation. The ever� increasing installation depth and weight of OWTs require suitable foundation concepts such as monopiles or tripods. Typically, mild steels such as S420ML are used with plate thicknesses of up to several hundred mm, resulting in high restraints in the welded joints. The large plate thickness requires high-efficiency welding processes such as submerged arc welding (SAW) with multiple wires. Due to the very high stiffness and plate thickness of the large-scale offshore structure, a susceptibility to time� delayed hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) may occur. For this reason, a minimum waiting time (MWT) of up to 48 h must be considered before NDT is conducted. The evaluation of the crack susceptibility is complex due to the component size and stiffness of real offshore structures. For this purpose, a near-component test geometry has been developed to transfer the real stiffness conditions to laboratory (i.e. workshop) scale. The 350 kg mock-up consisted of heavy plates (thickness 50 mm, seam length 1,000 m) joined by a 22-pass submerged-arc weld. Additional stiffeners simulated the effect of high restraint or shrinkage restraint of the weld. Extreme scenarios of hydrogen absorption during welding were simulated by using flux in dry (HD < 5 ml/100g Fe) and wet (HD > 15 ml/100g Fe) conditions. Weld residual stresses were determined using a robotic X-ray diffractometer. Areas of critical tensile residual stress (at the yield strength level) were found in the weld metal and in the heat affected zone, suggesting that these weld subzones are the most critical in the case of hydrogen ingress. To identify possible delayed cracking, the welds were inspected by phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) after welding, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, and a maximum of 48 h. Summarized, no significant occurrence of HAC was detected, indicating the high crack resistance of the welded joint, i.e., a suitable combination of base material, welding consumable and parameters. T2 - Materials Week/Steel Innovation CY - Frankfurt am Main, Germany DA - 02.04.2025 KW - Cold cracking KW - Component test KW - Hydrogen KW - Minimum waiting time KW - Offshore steel grade PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62873 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erxleben, Kjell T1 - Assessment of in-service welding conditions for pressurized hydrogen pipelines via component test N2 - Hydrogen is the energy carrier of tomorrow for a fossil-free future. This requires a reliable transport infrastructure capable of transporting large quantities of hydrogen. In addition to the construction of new pipelines, the conversion of existing natural gas (NG) networks is an essential part of global hydrogen strategies. The transport of hydrogen is fundamentally different from that of NG, as hydrogen can be absorbed into the pipeline material. Given the known effects of hydrogen embrittlement, the compatibility of the materials for the proposed pipelines (typically low alloy steels in a wide range of strengths and thicknesses) must be investigated. However, pipelines require frequent maintenance, repair, or the need to install additional outlets. In some cases, it is necessary to perform welding on or to the pipelines while they are in-service, i.e. with active gas flow under high pressure. This in-service welding poses challenges for hydrogen operations in terms of additional hydrogen absorption during welding and material compatibility. The challenge can be roughly divided into the possible austenitization of the inner pipe material exposed to hydrogen, which can lead to sufficient hydrogen absorption, and the welding itself, which causes an increased temperature range. Both lead to a significant increase in hydrogen solubility of the respective materials compared to room temperature. In this context, knowledge about welding on hydrogen pipelines is scarce due to the lack of operational experience. Fundamental experimental investigations are required to investigate the transferability from natural gas to hydrogen pipeline networks. For this reason, the present study presents a specially designed demonstrator concept for the realistic assessment of the welding process conditions. The demonstrator was designed 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. Welding experiments on the DN50 and DN200 pressurized demonstrators showed an increased hydrogen uptake in the welded area of several ppm. T2 - Materials Week/Steel Innovation CY - Frankfurt am Main, Germany DA - 02.04.2025 KW - In-service KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - Repair welding KW - Component test PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62941 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kromm, Arne T1 - Large scale hydrogen assisted cracking test for 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 submerged arc welded (SAW) 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 complicate 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 more than 20 passes and a seam length of 1,000 mm. Additional welded stiffeners simulated the effect of a high restraint, to stimulate 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 48 h after 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 modelling allowed the qualitative estimation of the hydrogen diffusion in the weld. A remarkable HAC occurrence was not identified and proves both, a certain resistance of the weld joint to HAC and the (questionable) duration of the MWT. T2 - IIW Intermediate Meeting of Commission II-A CY - Garching, Germany DA - 06.03.2023 KW - Hydrogen assisted cracking KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Offshore wind turbine KW - High-strength steel KW - Component test PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57100 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 - Component-test for determination of welding residual stresses and their effect on stress relief cracking in thick-walled welds N2 - Controlling the residual stress level during welding of creep-resistant Cr-Mo-V steels is crucial to avoid so called stress relief cracking (SRC) during post weld heat treatment (PWHT) of large-scale components. In the present study, a laboratory scale test specimen (slotted sample with 400 mm width, 400 mm length and 25 mm thickness) was used to simulate thick-walled component welds made of 13CrMoV9-10. The aim was to identify the level and distribution of residual stresses to evaluate the suitability of the specimen for laboratory based SRC testing. High restraint was ensured by the specimen geometry with a narrow welding gap in the center. This gap was filled by multi-layer submerged arc welding. Two specimens were welded with identical parameters and compared in the as-welded state and after PWHT (705 °C for 10 h). Neutron diffraction was used to determine the residual stresses in the weld metal, the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the base material at different depths longitudinal, transverse, and normal to the welding direction. The experiments were performed on the former instrument E3 of the research reactor BER II of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Germany. Complementarily, laboratory X-ray diffraction was applied to characterize the surface residual stresses. In the welded condition, especially in the weld metal and the adjacent HAZ, the longitudinal residual stresses reached values of up to 1,000 MPa to 1,200 MPa due to the increasing strength and hardness of the CrMoV-material during welding. The conducted welding experiments revealed that way higher residual stresses in the welded joint have to anticipated before the PWHT is performed than it was expected in advance. This demonstrated the necessity of suitable component-like welding tests as they must ensure realistic mechanical stiffness (hindered shrinkage of welding joint by slotted self-restraint sample) and heat dissipation conditions (definition of minimum welding joint thickness vs. welding process-specific heat input). T2 - FEMS Euromat 2025 - 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes CY - Granada, Spain DA - 15.09.2025 KW - Component test KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Post weld heat treatment KW - Residual stresses KW - Neutron diffraction PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64161 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Component test for the assessment of hydrogen assisted cracking susceptibility of thick-walled submerged arc welded offshore steels N2 - Offshore wind turbines (OWT) are a key factor of the sustainable energy generation of tomorrow. The continuously increasing installation depths and weight of the OWTs require suitable foundation concepts like monopiles or tripods. Typically, mild steels like the S420ML are used with plate thicknesses up to several hundreds of mm causing high restraints in the weld joints. Due to the large plate thickness, submerged arc welding (SAW) with multiple wires is the state-of-the-art welding procedure. As a result of the very high stiffness of the construction, a certain susceptibility for time-delayed hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC) may occur. The evaluation of crack susceptibility is very complex due to the component size and stiffness of real offshore structures. For this purpose, a near-component test geometry was developed to transfer the real stiffness conditions to laboratory (i.e., workshop) scale. The investigated mock-up, weighing 350 kg, comprised heavy plates (thickness 50 mm, seam length 1,000 m) joined by a 22-pass submerged arc weld. Additional stiffeners simulated the effect of high restraint or shrinkage restraint of the weld. Extreme scenarios of hydrogen absorption during welding were simulated via the use of welding fluxes in dry (HD < 5 ml/100g Fe) and moisture condition (HD > 15 ml/100g Fe). The residual stresses were determined by a robot X-ray diffractometer. Areas of critical tensile residual stress (at the level of the yield strength) were found in the weld metal and heat affected zone. To identify possible delayed cracking, the welds were tested by phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) after 48 h. Summarized, no significant occurrence of HAC was detected, indicating the high crack resistance of the welded joint, i.e., a suitable combination of base material, welding consumable and welding parameters. T2 - AJP 2023: 3rd International Conference on Advanced Joining Processes 2023 CY - Braga, Portugal DA - 19.10.2023 KW - Hydrogen assisted cracking KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Component test KW - NDT KW - Waiting time PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58672 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Development of a component test for assessment of delayed hydrogen assisted cracking susceptibility of thick walled submerged arc welded high strength offshore steels N2 - Offshore Wind Turbines (OWT) are a key factor in tomorrow's sustainable energy generation. The ever-increasing installation depth and weight of OWTs require suitable foundation concepts such as monopiles or tripods. Typically, mild steels such as S420ML are used with plate thicknesses of up to several hundred mm, resulting in high restraints in the welded joints. The large plate thickness requires high-efficiency welding processes such as submerged arc welding (SAW) with multiple wires. Due to the very high stiffness and plate thickness of the large-scale offshore structure, a susceptibility to time-delayed hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) may occur. The evaluation of this crack susceptibility is very complex due to the component size and stiffness of real offshore structures. For this purpose, a near-component test geometry was developed to transfer the real stiffness conditions to laboratory (i.e. workshop) scale. The 350 kg mock-up studied consisted of heavy plates (thickness 50 mm, seam length 1,000 m) joined by a 22-pass submerged-arc weld. Additional stiffeners simulated the effect of high restraint or shrinkage restraint of the weld. Extreme scenarios of hydrogen absorption during welding were simulated by using flux in dry (HD < 5 ml/100g Fe) and wet (HD > 15 ml/100g Fe) conditions. Weld residual stresses were determined using a robotic X-ray diffractometer. Areas of critical tensile residual stress (at the level of the yield strength) were found in the weld metal and in the heat affected zone, suggesting that these weld sub-zones are the most critical in the case of hydrogen ingress. To identify possible delayed cracking, the welds were tested by phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) after welding, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, and a maximum of 48 h. Summarized, no significant occurrence of HAC was detected, indicating the high crack resistance of the welded joint, i.e., a suitable combination of base material, welding consumable and parameters. T2 - MSE 2024: International Materials Science and Engineering Congress CY - Darmstadt, Germany DA - 24.09.2024 KW - Hydrogen KW - Offshore wind turbine KW - Component test KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Minimum waiting time PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61154 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Assessment of in-service welding conditions for pressurized hydrogen pipelines via component test N2 - Hydrogen is the energy carrier of tomorrow. This requires a reliable transport infrastructure with the ability to carry large amounts of hydrogen e.g. for steel industry or chemical industry. The conversion of existing natural gas (NG) grids is an essential part of the worldwide hydrogen strategies, in addition to the construction of new pipelines. In this context, the transportation of hydrogen is fundamental different from NG as hydrogen can be absorbed into the pipeline material. Given the well-known effects of hydrogen embrittlement, the compatibility of the materials for the intended pipelines must be investigated (typically low alloy steels in a wide range of strengths and thicknesses). However, pipelines require frequent maintenance, repair or the need for installation for further outlets. In some cases, it is necessary to perform welding on or onto the pipelines while they are still in service, i.e. with active gas flow under high pressure, e.g. such as the well-known “hot tapping”, see Fig. 1a. This in-service welding causes challenges for hydrogen operations in terms of additional hydrogen absorption during welding and the material compatibility. The challenge can be roughly divided into the possible austenitization of the inner pipe material exposed to hydrogen, which can lead to sufficient hydrogen absorption, and the welding itself, which causes an increased temperature range. Both lead to a significant increase in hydrogen solubility and diffusivity of the respective materials compared to room temperature. In this context, knowledge about hot tapping on hydrogen pipelines is scarce due to the lack of operating experience. Fundamental experimental investigations are required to investigate the transferability from NG to hydrogen pipeline grids. For this reason, the present study introduces a specially designed mock-up / demonstrator concept for the realistic assessment of the welding processing conditions, see Fig. 1b. The mock-up was designed to enable in-situ temperature measurement during welding as well as ex-post extraction of samples for the quantification of the absorbed hydrogen concentration, see Fig. 1c. For safety measures, the necessary pressurized hydrogen volume was limited by the insertion of a solid cylinder ensuring a 1 cm hydrogen gas layer. Welding experiments on the pressurized mock-ups with the diameters DN50 and DN200 have shown that the austenitization temperature can be reached on the inner surface of the pipeline, especially on thinner-walled pipelines, using current welding practices. This corresponds to an increased hydrogen uptake in the welded area of several ppm T2 - 1st Conference on Hydrogen in Materials Science and Engineering (H2-MSE) CY - Siegburg, Germany DA - 11.02.2025 KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - In-service welding KW - Component test PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62544 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Component test for simplified testing of hydrogen‐assisted delayed cold cracking of high‐strength, submerged arc‐welded offshore steel structures N2 - Offshore Wind Turbines (OWT) are a key factor in tomorrow's sustainable energy generation. The ever-increasing installation depth and weight of OWTs require suitable foundation concepts such as monopiles or tripods. Typically, mild steels such as S420ML are used with plate thicknesses of up to several hundred mm, resulting in high restraints in the welded joints. The large plate thickness requires high-efficiency welding processes such as submerged arc welding (SAW) with multiple wires. Due to the very high stiffness and plate thickness of the large-scale offshore structure, a susceptibility to time-delayed hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) may occur. The evaluation of this crack susceptibility is very complex due to the component size and stiffness of real offshore structures. For this purpose, a near-component test geometry was developed to transfer the real stiffness conditions to laboratory (i.e. workshop) scale. The 350 kg mock-up studied consisted of heavy plates (thickness 50 mm, seam length 1,000 m) joined by a 22-pass submerged-arc weld. Additional stiffeners simulated the effect of high restraint or shrinkage restraint of the weld. Extreme scenarios of hydrogen absorption during welding were simulated by using flux in dry (HD < 5 ml/100g Fe) and wet (HD > 15 ml/100g Fe) conditions. Weld residual stresses were determined using a robotic X-ray diffractometer. Areas of critical tensile residual stress (at the level of the yield strength) were found in the weld metal and in the heat affected zone, suggesting that these weld sub-zones are the most critical in the case of hydrogen ingress. To identify possible delayed cracking, the welds were tested by phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) after welding, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, and a maximum of 48 h. Summarized, no significant occurrence of HAC was detected, indicating the high crack resistance of the welded joint, i.e., a suitable combination of base material, welding consumable and parameters. T2 - MPA Seminar 2024 - Materials, Processes, Applications CY - Stuttgart, Germany DA - 08.10.2024 KW - Hydrogen KW - Offshore wind turbine KW - Component test KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Minimum waiting time PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61323 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Component test for simulation of in-service welding on hydrogen pipelines N2 - Hydrogen is set as the energy carrier of tomorrow and most countries will achieve large-scale hydrogen transport through the conversion of the natural gas (NG) grid and the construction of new pipelines. The interaction between hydrogen and the pipeline materials differs fundamentally from that of NG, as hydrogen is readily absorbed into the material. Considering the possible hydrogen embrittlement (HE), the compatibility of the pipeline materials (low-alloyed steels with a wide strength/thickness range) must be investigated. However, pipelines require intervention for maintenance, repair, or grid expansion with welding on/onto the pipelines while in service, i.e. the well-known "hot tapping" and "stoppling". The challenges compared to NG can be broadly divided into the possible austenitization of the inner pipe material exposed to hydrogen and the welding itself. Both result in a significant increase in hydrogen solubility and could potentially pose challenges in terms of HE. Emphasis is placed on the word "could" because knowledge of "hot tapping" on hydrogen pipelines is scarce due a lack of service experience. To this end, this study proposes a concept for a component-like demonstrator with the objectives: (1) safe feasibility of "hot tapping" on pressurized model hydrogen pipeline sections, (2) facilitate ex-post sample extraction for the purpose of quantifying the absorbed hydrogen concentrations, and (3) ensure in-situ temperature measurement during welding to monitor the pipeline surface temperature. For safety reasons in the event of an unintentional "burn-through", a solid cylinder was inserted in the demonstrator to restrict the hydrogen gas volume to a small, pressurized layer. Reference pipeline surface temperature measurements were ensured on comparable, unpressurized geometries. The investigated range of welding conditions was investigated for representative material/thickness combinations (DN60 to DN300), suggesting the feasibility of the demonstrator for the determination of reliable in-service welding conditions for both installed and new pipelines for hydrogen service. T2 - 49th MPA Conference CY - Stuttgart, Germany DA - 06.10.2025 KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - In-service welding KW - Component test PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64317 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -