Control of Risk for hYdrogen embrittlement in Steels for Automotive appLications

ended

The main objective of CRYSTAL project is to reduce the hydrogen embrittlement risk in high strength steel parts for the automotive industry. The hydrogen content in representative AHSS, cold rolled and press hardening steels, will be examined along the global value chain from the various production stages up to vehicle component life. In this sense, a novel solid-state gas sensor will be set up to quantitatively measure in-situ the hydrogen absorbed during production of steel parts. Therefore, a non-destructive methodology to evaluate HE during production and life span of the components will be defined and tested during the project. The use of a hydrogen sensor probe directly after different manufacturing processes will give an extra tool to assure part quality and will easy its implementation in an Industry 4.0 approach. On the other hand, a range of laboratory, real plant and simulated life tests will be carried out to find an optimal evaluation test method for hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of steels. Interestingly, a novel test based on fracture mechanics will be set-up to quickly and reliably estimate the dependence of the material cracking resistance on hydrogen content. The effort in the understanding of hydrogen-uptake mechanisms, hydrogen threshold and hydrogen embrittlement index will help to elaborate future norms of production and testing, to produce safer vehicle components and to prepare for predictive behaviour. At the end of CRYSTAL, a set of experimental tools and novel testing methodologies will be able to predict hydrogen embrittlement in production stages and assure steel/part quality. Their implementation and validation in CRYSTAL will definitively boost the applicability of advanced high strength steels in safety related automotive parts.