Open Access

The hydrogen economy is one of the most important solutions to achieve climate neutrality in Europe. It involves the production, storage, transport and use of large quantities of hydrogen in existing and new infrastructures. Components along this supply chain, such as pipelines and storage tanks, are made of various metallic materials, with steel being the most common construction material. The rapid introduction of hydrogen therefore brings with it major challenges, in particular the need for comprehensive qualification of components and materials to ensure the sustainable and safe use of hydrogen technologies. This article provides an overview of the state of the art in the testing of materials and components as well as corresponding future trends and developments for a successful transition to a hydrogen economy.

Eight commercial austenitic stainless steels were tensile tested in reference atmosphere, in gaseous high-pressure hydrogen and in gaseous hydrogen precharged condition using conventional (CS) and tubular specimens (TS). For all configurations, 0.2 yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were comparable. In reference atmosphere, reduction of area of CS was higher compared to TS, whereas in gaseous high pressure hydrogen reduction of area of CS was lower compared to TS. In gaseous hydrogen precharged condition reduction of area of CS and TS were comparable for the severely affected grades. The differences in necking behavior between CS and TS are explained by different competitions between necking and hydrogen assisted crack initiation and growth especially for the tests in high pressure hydrogen gas.

Metallic materials, mainly steels, are the most commonly used structural materials in various components throughout the hydrogen supply chain. Ensuring their sustainable and safe use in hydrogen technologies is a crucial factor in the development of the hydrogen economy. This is particularly important since hydrogen can promote crack formation and ultimately lead to premature failure in these materials when combined with mechanical load. This process is commonly known as Hydrogen Embrittlement and can occur in a large number of steels used for the hydrogen technologies.[1] Extensive materials qualification is required for the rapid implementation of hydrogen technologies, however, most accepted, and standardised test methods for determining the effect of gaseous hydrogen on metallic materials describe complex and costly procedures (e.g. in-situ autoclave technique) that are only available to a very limited extent worldwide. The hollow specimen technique is a simple and economical method that has the potential to overcome the limitations of the current methods and complement them for qualifying metallic materials under high-pressure hydrogen gas. Unlike the conventional autoclave technique, this method requires significantly lower amounts of hydrogen, resulting in fewer safety measures and no need for complex equipment or a specialised laboratory. The technique's low investment and testing costs, simple operation, and shorter testing time make it an optimal for widespread use around the world, thereby increasing the output of results. Initial studies have demonstrated the feasibility of assessing hydrogen effects in metallic materials using the hollow specimen technique. This led to the establishment of an ISO committee to standardise the method, however, there are open questions that currently prevent the technique from being standardised for hydrogen testing. These open questions relate to specimen geometry, inner hole surface and gas quality and are being addressed in the TransHyDE - H2HohlZug project. The aim of the project is to systematically address and close the gaps towards the standardisation of this technique for tests in hydrogen. The project is divided into four work packages. First, the elastic-plastic behaviour of a hollow tensile specimen is compared with that of a conventional solid tensile specimen of identical external dimensions using finite element methods (3D-FEM) and subsequently validated by experimental results. In the second, the influence of the inner hole surface quality of the specimen on the hydrogen effects is evaluated. Five different methods of producing the inner axial hole were chosen to ensure different average roughness values and residual stresses (drilling vs. EDM), and also to ensure a good representation of the more common and easily accessible processes (drilling and reaming) to the more complex ones (EDM and honing). Next, the influence of gas purity (different compositions) and purging process (different routines) is evaluated. Finally, an optimal specimen geometry, inner hole production process, gas quality and purging process are proposed from each working package and its reproducibility and repeatability is evaluated in a round robin with national and international partners. This contribution presents the structure and milestones of the project, followed by initial results regarding the influence of different manufacturing and finishing processes on the inner hole surface of the hollow specimen and its response to hydrogen effects.

Hydrogen infrastructure relies strongly on metallic components operating under high pressures, including pipelines, storage vessels, compressors, and valves. Ensuring the structural integrity of these materials in hydrogen environments is crucial, as hydrogen can significantly degrade the mechanical properties of structural components, leading to premature and sometimes catastrophic failure under conditions that would otherwise be well within their safe operating range. These degradation phenomena are broadly referred to as hydrogen-assisted degradation and encompass mechanisms such as hydrogen embrittlement (HE). Rigorous material testing under representative hydrogen exposure conditions is therefore essential to qualify structural alloys for hydrogen service. However, the accepted and standardised test methods for determining the influence of gaseous hydrogen on metallic materials describe complex and costly procedures available only to a limited number of facilities worldwide. The hollow specimen technique offers a simple and economical alternative, confining hydrogen within a sealed internal hole machined through the specimen gauge section, rather than surrounding the specimen in a pressure vessel. This reduces hydrogen volumes, safety requirements, and infrastructure demands substantially, making the method suitable for widespread adoption and increasing experimental throughput. Initial studies demonstrated the feasibility of the technique for assessing hydrogen effects in metallic materials, leading to the establishment of the standard ISO 7039:2024. However, open questions relating to specimen geometry, inner hole manufacturing and surface condition, and gas purity prevented its full standardisation for hydrogen testing. The H2HohlZug project, conducted under the German research initiative TransHyDE and coordinated by BAM, was established to systematically close these gaps. The project results have demonstrated that the hollow specimen technique is a viable, reproducible, and practical method for qualifying metallic materials under high-pressure gaseous hydrogen. By systematically addressing the identified knowledge gaps that prevented the standardisation of the technique for hydrogen testing, the project has established the technical foundation required for a comprehensive revision of ISO 7039:2024. The ongoing revision of ISO 7039, led by DIN, represents the direct translation of the project results into a normative framework, bringing the hollow specimen technique closer to widespread adoption as a reliable and accessible alternative to conventional autoclave based hydrogen testing.

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.