Schulz, Philipp;
Dziedzic, Dominik;
Rocha, Nuno;
Ezenwajiaku, Chinonso;
Talibi, Midhat;
Balachandran, Ramanarayanan;
Galindo-Nava, Enrique;
(2025)
Hydrogen uptake and embrittlement in nickel-base superalloys during hydrogen flame charging.
Communications Materials
, 6
, Article 265. 10.1038/s43246-025-00988-9.
(In press).
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Abstract
Adopting hydrogen as fuel is one of the most promising solutions to eliminate carbon emissions in aviation. However, hydrogen is known to degrade the properties of structural alloys––a phenomenon known as hydrogen embrittlement. Here, we show that the environmental response of nickel-base superalloys in hydrogen combustion environments contrasts with the existing understanding of hydrogen embrittlement in metals. We demonstrate that direct flame exposure, i.e., flame charging, leads to significant hydrogen absorption, with oxidation strongly affecting hydrogen mass flow. Pre-existing oxides increase total hydrogen uptake during combustion, yet oxides also hinder hydrogen desorption. These effects reveal complex behaviour not observed in other hydrogen introduction methods, such as electrochemical hydrogen charging, with embrittlement being more extensive and showing distinct fracture behaviours. The study identifies key factors controlling hydrogen uptake and highlights critical differences between combustion and other hydrogen environments. Our findings can inform future alloy development, testing and certification for safe, sustainable hydrogen-powered jet engines.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Hydrogen uptake and embrittlement in nickel-base superalloys during hydrogen flame charging |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s43246-025-00988-9 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00988-9 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10217632 |
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