Impact of hydrogen on alloy performance: When expecting what

Research Project, 2023 – 2025

This project aims to study alloy integrity loss caused by hydrogen entry and how to monitor it. Hydrogen in alloys causes loss of the material's elasticity, which can be detrimental to their mechanical properties, a process known as hydrogen embrittlement. Despite decades of research, H embrittlement is still challenging to be understood at the atomic scale. I want to set a breakthrough in understanding processes that control hydrogen ingress in functional alloys by combining ab initio atomistic simulations and experiments. I will:
A. Describe potential mechanisms that stabilise local phases.
B. Define phase formations induced by hydrogen.
C . Quantify the effect of hydrogen on diffusion barriers.
These objectives contribute to developing a novel comprehensive understanding of H embrittlement.
My role is the design and execution of atomistic simulations that will be done side-by-side with state-of-the-art near-atomic experiments. My first case study is a Ni-base alloy. I will investigate steady-state transformations leading to hydrogen ingress, how phases are locally stabilised at interfaces, and how hydrogen affects material properties, such as vacancy mobility. The same methodology will be applied to other alloys. In the short term, these studies will help design strategies to monitor hydrogen entry in the case studies. In the long run, I will contribute to discovering materials properties that control hydrogen ingress and propose new high-strength alloys resistant to embrittlement.