1. NIMS has established and begun operating a new testing facility to evaluate the mechanical properties of materials exposed to low-temperature hydrogen environments. This facility can create hydrogen conditions across a broader range of temperatures and pressures than any other facility of its kind in the world. It is designed to assess the properties of materials when in contact with low-temperature gaseous or liquefied hydrogen, with the goal of developing cost-effective materials for hydrogen supply chains. This approach is expected to reduce the cost of producing and operating hydrogen-related equipment and of supplying hydrogen.
2. Making a hydrogen economy a reality will require reducing the cost of the hydrogen supply. However, because only a few materials have so far been found suitable for use under the severe conditions caused by contact with 20 K liquefied hydrogen and hydrogen gas, it has been difficult to significantly reduce the costs of producing and operating hydrogen-related equipment.
3. The new facility can generate accurate, reliable data on the mechanical properties, hydrogen compatibility and other characteristics of diverse materials when subjected to contact with low-temperature gaseous or liquefied hydrogen across a temperature range of 20 K to 353 K and a pressure range from ambient pressure to 10 MPa. These evaluations are expected to support the development of a broader range of hydrogen-compatible materials capable of making hydrogen-related equipment safer and more economical.
4. By the end of FY2025, NIMS aims to validate that this facility can stably and continuously provide accurate and reliable material property data. Starting in FY2026, the facility is scheduled to commence full-scale collection and provision of mechanical property data for materials intended for use in future hydrogen supply chains.
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5. Testing at this facility will be conducted as part of a project entitled, “Developing a foundation for material evaluations to support R&D on liquefied hydrogen-related equipment” under the category “Large-scale Hydrogen Supply Chain Establishment” supported by NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization)’s Green Innovation Fund.
Experimental study
Not applicable