Accident prevention and service life - Materials

In order for the hydrogen economy to be widely accepted by society, the infra­structure of technical facilities for the storage, distribution and use of hydrogen as an energy carrier must not pose any risks to safety or hazards that may cause accidents. To be economically viable, the systems must have a high level of op­erational safety and a long service life. During operation of these systems, many H2-specific local material changes occur due to mechanical, thermal, chemical or electromagnetic loads. These only have a negative impact on the safety, func­tion, reliability and service life of the systems if weak points have not already been taken into account in the design stage and controlled through systematic monitoring of status and process data du1ing the operation of the system, or if these have been avoided altogether by selecting suitable materials when con­structing the system. In fact, there is still great potential for optimization in designing systems with appropriate materials that work well with hydrogen as an energy carrier to establish a secure infrastructure for a hydrogen economy that is capable of sustainable development on the energy market. Fraunhofer is taking the initiative to achieve this by working with technology platforms and collaborative projects as part of the National Hydrogen Strategy in Germany.
This chapter outlines the interaction of hydrogen with materials and illus­trates their importance in terms of accident prevention and extending the service life of technical systems in a hydrogen infrastructure.