SAN ANTONIO—June 24, 2026—Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and St. Mary’s University are collaborating to develop a physics-based forecasting tool that can predict the degradation and durability of TiFe-based metal hydride vessels through a chemical and thermo-mechanical framework. It is supported by a new $125,839 grant from the St. Mary’s-SwRI Technology and Applied Research (S 2 TAR) Program, which fosters collaborations between researchers from both organizations.
Metal hydrides are chemical compounds, often powders, that are formed when hydrogen reacts with metals or alloys. Metal hydrides can lock and store hydrogen in the compound’s lattice through a process known as chemisorption. They offer one of the safest and most compact solid-state storage options for hydrogen available.
“Metal hydrides absorb hydrogen like a sponge at moderate pressures and do not possess either the explosion risk of high-pressure tanks or the energy costs associated with liquefied hydrogen,” said Dr. Richard S. Fu, co-principal investigator of the project and a research engineer in the SwRI Powertrain Engineering Division. “One of the unresolved barriers preventing their wider adoption as a storage vessel is their low durability. After repeated charge and discharge cycles, the alloy powder fractures, the powder-bed densifies and the vessel’s performance quietly degrades.”
Currently, the only methods of predicting degradation in these vessels require expensive, lengthy physical tests. Fu and Dr. Mohamed Shaat, co-principal investigator of the project and assistant professor of mechanical engineering at St. Mary’s University, aim to replace traditional, time-intensive physical test cycles with a high-fidelity modeling framework. By combining physics-based simulations with targeted validation tests, the team hopes to create a tool that can accurately forecast vessel lifecycle and durability and facilitate advanced metal hydride vessels as more reliable solid-state storage solutions.
“Hydrogen has tremendous potential as a versatile zero-emission energy carrier that can support renewable energy integration and broader decarbonization efforts,” said Shaat. “Like any emerging technology, however, its practical implementation requires overcoming important scientific and engineering challenges. This project brings together complementary expertise in modeling and experimentation to better understand the mechanisms governing hydrogen storage performance and durability.”
At St. Mary's University, Shaat will lead development of a comprehensive thermodynamic and multiphysics modeling framework that captures the coupled chemical, thermal and mechanical processes associated with hydrogen storage, such as hydrogen diffusion, chemisorption, phase transformation, heat transfer and stress evolution. The framework will be used to develop models capable of evaluating vessel performance as well as identifying design and operating conditions that maximize system durability and efficiency.
“A key objective of our work is to translate the underlying physics of hydrogen absorption and desorption into efficient predictive models,” Shaat said. “By understanding how hydrogen transport, reaction, thermal and mechanical mechanisms interact—and, more importantly, and how these processes are coupled—we can significantly reduce the time and cost required to evaluate hydrogen storage systems while retaining the accuracy needed for their design, optimization and long-term durability assessment.”
At SwRI, Fu’s team will conduct controlled cycling experiments to generate data needed to calibrate and validate the predictive models. Leveraging prior experience in hydrogen storage experiments, the team will perform long-term cycling and diagnostic testing under realistic operating conditions. Together, the modeling and experimental data will allow the team to predict the degradation of metal hydride hydrogen storage vessels over the course of hundreds to thousands of charge-discharge cycles.
“By cycling a vessel under controlled conditions, we are uncovering exactly how coupled chemical, thermal and mechanical phenomena drive performance degradation,” Fu said. “The model will tell us what to look for in the experiment, and the experiment will tell us whether the model is correct.”
This project was funded by St. Mary’s University and Southwest Research Institute. The S 2 TAR program provides seed funding for this cross-disciplinary collaboration. It aims to strengthen technical ties between the two institutions and cultivate long-term collaboration, positioning the team to jointly pursue and secure future external research funding from federal and industrial stakeholders.
“We are grateful for the support of the S 2 TAR program in launching this initiative," said Fu. “As we refine the framework, the tool will help make this technology more practical and create opportunities for wider adoption. This will lead us into the next phase of solid-state hydrogen storage research and development.”
For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/markets/energy-environment/power-generation-utilities/advanced-power-systems/hydrogen-energy-research .