Engage with H-Mat

Current Partnerships

H-Mat is currently partnered with over 40 members of industry and academia in R&D projects across a range of applications. These projects include:

Hydrogen Blending in Pipelines

• Testing of Pipeline Materials in Blends: The H-Mat consortium is supporting a team led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with over 20 industry stakeholders (e.g. utilities, energy industry collaboratives) to test metal and polymer materials in hydrogen blend environments, and develop a publicly accessible model of pipeline reliability in hydrogen blends. Within this team, NREL is leading technoeconomic analysis of hydrogen blending and pipeline construction, and Argonne National Laboratory is leading life cycle analysis of the use of hydrogen blends, with support from the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Team collaborators include American Air Liquide, Inc, Chevron, DNV GL, Enbridge, Electric Power Research Institute, GTI, Operations Technology Development NFP (OTD), Hawaii Gas, Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Southern Company, Stony Brook University, Tenaris, and 7 others.

Hydrogen Dispensers

• Development of Novel Dispensing Hose Materials: Savannah River National Laboratory is supporting Clemson University in fatigue testing of novel self-healing materials being developed for use in dispensing hoses.

• Design of Low-Cost, Metal-Free Dispensing Hoses: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is supporting NanoSonic, Inc. in characterization of stresses and microstructural features of their novel hydrogen dispensing hose prototype, to inform hose design.

Hydrogen Storage Vessels

• Microstructural Engineering of Low-cost, High-Strength Steels: Sandia National Laboratory is supporting a team led by Colorado School of Mines with partnership from Wiretough, U.S. Steel, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in fatigue and fracture testing of novel high-strength alloys of steel, to assess their potential to be used in 875-bar hydrogen storage (e.g. at fueling stations).

Cross-Cutting

• Microstructural Engineering of Stainless Steels: Sandia National, Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory are supporting the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in evaluating the impact of microstructural features in steel (such as local chemistry and the atomic structure) on resistance to hydrogen effects. Additional team members include ArcelorMittal, Linde/Praxair, and Swagelok.

• Accelerated Fatigue Test Methods: Sandia National Laboratory is supporting Hy-Performance in development of accelerated test methods that can reduce both the time and cost associated with fatigue testing of metals in high-pressure hydrogen.

• High-throughput Screening of High-Entropy Alloys in Hydrogen Environments: Sandia National Laboratory is supporting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in mechanical testing of samples of high-entropy alloys with potential to achieve higher resistance to hydrogen effects than conventional materials.

• Tailoring Carbide Dispersed Steels: Sandia National Laboratory is supporting a team led by the University of Alabama with Colorado State University, Exothermics, Ames Laboratory, and Army Research Laboratory in testing of novel metal alloys that the team is developing to achieve improvements in strength and ductility in hydrogen. These alloys include varying concentrations and types of carbides, and are intended to be lower cost than those currently used in hydrogen nozzles and storage vessels.

• Wave Mixing Non-Destructive Evaluation Techniques for Pressure Vessels: Sandia National Laboratories is supporting Luna Innovations in development of techniques that detect micrometer-scale damage in pressure vessels.

For more information on existing partnerships, please contact h-matinfo@pnnl.gov