TY - JOUR A1 - Erxleben, Kjell A1 - Kaiser, Sebastian A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Kannengiesser, Thomas A1 - Kromm, Arne T1 - In-service and repair welding of pressurized hydrogen pipelines–a review on current challenges and strategies N2 - Hydrogen is the energy carrier for a sustainable future without fossil fuels. As this requires a reliable transportation infrastructure, the conversion of existing natural gas (NG) grids is an essential part of the worldwide individual national hydrogen strategies, in addition to newly erected pipelines. In view of the known effect of hydrogen embrittlement, the compatibility of the materials already in use (typically low-alloy steels in a wide range of strengths and thicknesses) must be investigated. Initial comprehensive studies on the hydrogen compatibility of pipeline materials indicate that these materials can be used to a certain extent. Nevertheless, the material compatibility for hydrogen service is currently of great importance. However, pipelines require frequent maintenance and repair work. In some cases, it is necessary to carry out welding work on pipelines while they are under pressure, e.g., the well-known tapping of NG grids. This in-service welding brings additional challenges for hydrogen operations in terms of additional hydrogen absorption during welding and material compatibility. The challenge can be roughly divided into two parts: (1) the possible austenitization of the inner piping material exposed to hydrogen, which can lead to additional hydrogen absorption, and (2) the welding itself causes an increased temperature range. Both lead to a significantly increased hydrogen solubility in the respective materials compared to room temperature. In that connection, the knowledge on hot tapping on hydrogen pipelines is rare so far due to the missing service experiences. Fundamental experimental investigations are required to investigate the possible transferability of the state-of-the-art concepts from NG to hydrogen pipeline grids. This is necessary to ensure that no critical material degradation occurs due to the potentially increased hydrogen uptake. For this reason, the paper introduces the state of the art in pipeline hot tapping, encompassing current research projects and their individual solution strategies for the problems that may arise for future hydrogen service. Methods of material testing, their limitations, and possible solutions will be presented and discussed. KW - In-service KW - Hydrogen KW - Repair welding KW - Pipeline PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-638944 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-025-02127-x SN - 0043-2288 SP - 1 EP - 24 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-63894 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Diffusion and trapping of gaseous hydrogen charged CoCrFeMnNi-HEA vs. austenitic steel AISI 316L at pressure up to 1000 bar N2 - First studies on the mechanical behavior of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) in high-pressure hydrogen environment are available. In contrast, the underlying hydrogen absorption, diffusion and trapping in these HEAs like the Cantor-alloy was less in the scientific scope so far. For that reason, the CoCrFeMnNi-HEA was compared to a conventional AISI 316L austenitic steel, by exposing to high-pressure hydrogen charging at 200 bar and very-high pressure at 1,000 bar. Thermal desorption analysis (TDA) was applied with different heating rates (0.125 K/s to 0.500 K/s). The underlying TDA spectra were analyzed in terms of a reasonable peak deconvolution to into a defined number of peaks and the calculation of the activation energies for the respective and predominant hydrogen trap sites. Both materials show a comparable hydrogen diffusivity. The obtained activation energies suggest that in case of the CoCrFeMnNi-HEAs an interaction of the austenitic phase as well as the direct atomic bonding of hydrogen to the metal atoms are the dominant traps, since “impurities” such as carbides or inclusions are only present in trace amounts. Available literature suggests that the Cr and Mn-content is here of special interest for the direct hydrogen bonding at solute atoms. T2 - MSE 2024: International Materials Science and Engineering Congress CY - Darmstadt, Germany DA - 24.09.2024 KW - High-entropy alloy KW - Hydrogen KW - Trapping KW - Diffusion KW - High-pressure charging PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61156 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kaiser, Sebastian 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 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 rou-tine 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 properties, 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 hydrogen 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 weld-ed 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. T2 - 77th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference, Meeting of Commission II-A "Metallurgy of Weld Metals" CY - Ixia, Rhodes Island, Greece DA - 07.07.2024 KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - In-Service Welding PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60757 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erxleben, Kjell A1 - Kaiser, Sebastian A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas A1 - Hadick, C. A1 - Schu, K. T1 - Quantification of hydrogen uptake during in-service hydrogen pipeline welding N2 - Hydrogen must be transported on a large scale from producers to consumers to ensure the energy transition. The necessary pipeline grid is achieved by conversion of the natural gas (NG) grid and building new pipelines. Welding during service as part e.g. of “hot-tapping” is unavoidable for maintenance/repair/expansion. Based on existing studies, the basic material compatibility of (low-alloyed) pipeline steels with hydrogen is postulated. However, this cannot be assumed for the case of in-service welding on pipelines in pressurized condition. The reason is the increased temperature e.g. by preheating and (in particular) during welding of the single passes. As a result, the inner pipeline surface undergoes multiple short-term heating but to high temperatures. In particular, the first passes can result in a temperature close to the austenitic transformation of the material for small wall thicknesses. Both increase the hydrogen uptake into the welded joint. If hydrogen embrittlement is likely to occur, depends on the hydrogen uptake, which must be quantified. For this purpose, welding experiments on pressurized demonstrators were conducted. The hydrogen uptake at 100 bar was compared to reference experiments with nitrogen. A new sample extraction routine for the quantification of the weld-zone specific hydrogen uptake was established. Comprehensive experiments with different steels (P235, L360, L485), wall thicknesses (4.1 mm to 7.8 mm) and diameters (DN50 and DN200) were conducted. In addition, the influence of the welding layer sequence on the hydrogen uptake between single- and multi-layer welds was investigated. Analytical approaches were used to approximate the hydrogen uptake in the respective weld zones. The main findings were that the layer sequence and especially the wall thickness have a large influence on the hydrogen uptake. T2 - 20th Pipeline Technology Conference ptc2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 06.05.2025 KW - In-service KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - Repair welding KW - component test PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 12 AN - OPUS4-63166 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Characterization of hydrogen trapping in a CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy charged up to 1000 bar high-pressure hydrogen N2 - First studies on the mechanical behavior of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) in high-pressure hydrogen environment are available. In contrast, the underlying hydrogen absorption, diffusion and trapping in these HEAs like the Cantor-alloy was less in the scientific scope so far. For that reason, the CoCrFeMnNi-HEA was compared to a conventional AISI 316L austenitic steel, by exposing to high-pressure hydrogen charging at 200 bar and very-high pressure at 1,000 bar. Thermal desorption analysis (TDA) was applied with different heating rates (0.125 K/s to 0.500 K/s), see Fig. 1a to d. The underlying TDA spectra were analyzed in terms of a reasonable peak deconvolution to into a defined number of peaks and the calculation of the activation energies for the respective and predominant hydrogen trap sites. Both materials show a comparable hydrogen diffusivity. The obtained activation energies suggest that in case of the CoCrFeMnNi-HEAs an interaction of the austenitic phase as well as the direct atomic bonding of hydrogen to the metal atoms are the dominant traps, since “impurities” such as carbides or inclusions are only present in trace amounts. Available literature suggests that the Cr and Mn-content is here of special interest for the direct hydrogen bonding at solute atoms. In addition, the trap occupancy rate must be considered in terms of a pressure-related hydrogen absorption. The derived apparent hydrogen solubility was in the order: 316L < CoCrFeMnNi-HEA for both charging pressures. Especially, the 1,000 bar values lead to noteworthy results with > 70 wt.ppm for the AISI 316L and >130 wt.ppm for the CoCrFeMnNi. In fact, both the hydrogen diffusion and trapping data on gaseous high-pressure hydrogen charged HEAs are rare so far. The results of the present study allow a deeper understanding of hydrogen trapping in the regarded CoCrFeMnNi-system. T2 - 78th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference CY - Genoa, Italy DA - 26.06.2025 KW - Hydrogen KW - Thermal desorption analysis KW - High-pressure charging KW - Trapping KW - Diffusion PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63542 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erxleben, Kjell A1 - Kaiser, Sebastian A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas A1 - Hadick, C. A1 - Schu, K. T1 - Component test concept for evaluation of in-service welding on pressurized 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 "plugging" or “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 (DN50 to DN200), 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 - 20th Pipeline Technology Conference ptc2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 06.05.2025 KW - In-service KW - Hydrogen KW - Pipeline KW - Repair welding KW - component test PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 11 AN - OPUS4-63168 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 A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas T1 - Update on "Call for interested people to contribute to series of comprehensive papers on welding and joining of components for sustainable energy systems" N2 - Based on the initial call in March 2024, an update time-frame is introduced on the working plan for a comprehensive review paper series on joining and welding technologies for the manufacturing of components and parts used in sustainable energy generation, conversion, and transport with focus on hydrogen and wind energy. T2 - 77th IIW Annual Assembly and International Conference, Meeting of Commission II-A CY - Ixia, Rhodes, Greece DA - 07.07.2024 KW - Review paper KW - Research study KW - Hydrogen KW - Joining KW - Welding PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60674 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 -