The agreement focuses on specific scientific and technological advancements that will result in novel techniques for material characterization in a hydrogen environment, modeling, and optimization in support of national industrial competitiveness. The CEA-Cetim cooperation wants to offer vital services to the industrial fabric so that it can grow.
Two partners, many advantages
The value chain for “Hydrogen” includes all of the mechanical industry’s interventions. However, in order to assure its production, distribution, and use in a variety of applications, it is required to modify the goods, particularly the fluidic equipment, which includes pipes, tanks, compressors, pumps, regulators, and tanks of diverse shapes, sizes, materials, and conditions. Because of this, Cetim is, in particular, purchasing a materials engineering and testing facility called HyMEET (Hydrogen Material and Equipment Engineering and Testing Center), which is the first step in an expansion plan that will be implemented over the course of the next four years.
Despite being known for more than a century, it has not yet been possible to quantify and anticipate the effect of hydrogen on the mechanical strength of steel. The CEA has developed expertise within a particular platform, using specialized experimental resources (mechanical tests under high hydrogen pressure, hydrogen permeation, bursting of discs/tubes, etc.), along with methods of microstructural characterization, hydrogen dosage in materials, and modeling, with the goal of improving these aspects. On the basis of these abilities, the CEA has been creating expertise for more than 15 years through institutional, industry, and international collaborations.
H2-material interactions: the two players’ required complementarity
Thus, the partnership promises to offer solutions to research in detail the behavior of materials in the presence of hydrogen, whether metallic polymers or composites, by combining these many years of knowledge within the hydrogen and materials teams of the CEA with the huge test capacities of Cetim.
One of the foundations of this beginning partnership will be their characterization in a hydrogen environment using specific methods, whether it concerns the behavior of alloys, assemblies, or welds. To guarantee the robustness and dependability of hydrogen-powered parts and systems, this information is crucial.
The two parties intend to provide a digital component at the same time to make it easier to comprehend how dispersion and impact work in materials. Numerous factors need to be taken into consideration when analyzing the mechanical property deterioration of materials exposed to this sort of environment. Without this novel approach coupling digital tools and the creation of specialized benches, many challenges related to the prediction and prevention of damage are encountered, whether they be metallurgical, Physico-chemical, electrochemical, etc., making it very difficult to identify critical parameters.
Together, we are paving the way for the growth of a French sector for the production of hydrogen components and systems, which is necessary to finish the value chain surrounding the development of electrolyzers and fuel cells. We are combining our cutting-edge expertise in the fields of materials and sealing. the CEO of Cetim, Daniel Richet
Together, our two organizations are advancing their shared goal of enhancing the French industry’s competitiveness. We have discovered a technique to speed up and deploy more quickly the next tests and trials required for the construction of a sector at the center of clean mobility with lengthy autonomy and the growth of low-carbon industries through the unparalleled offer thus generated. François Legalland, CEA-Director Liten’s
