Investigation and modelling of hydrogen effusion in electrochemically plated ultra-highstrength-steels used for landing gear structures

General Information

The main objective of the H2Free project is to develop a practical guideline for hydrogen degassing of ultra-highstrength steels (UHSS) plated with low hydrogen embrittlement zinc-nickel (Zi-Ni) , with the aim of saving production costs and allowing Zi-Ni to overtake cadmium coatings. The guideline will contain simple rules/formulas to provide criteria to design the degassing process, based on experimental data and on modelling to predict the hydrogen effusion in coated UHSS, the remaining hydrogen concentration in the components and so the probability of hydrogen embrittlement. With its digital approach, H2Free will accelerate materials modelling uptake into European industrial decision-making and link all partners to central European materials modelling platforms and activities.
The project brings together a strong consortium composed of four outstanding research centres and 2 SMEs with complementary profiles and large expertise, covering the special skills, capabilities and certification expected for the project.
Hereon leads the work package addressing (i) the development of a computer based simulation model to describe the hydrogen effusion characteristics of compact, electrochemically generated layer morphologies, (ii) the integration of this model in a 3D simulation tool, and (iii) the validation of the model at lab scale and pilot plant. The project is co-funded by the Clean Sky 2 Joint Technology Initiative (CS2 JTI) which is a Public-Private Partnership between the European Commission and aircraft industries.

EU-Programme Acronym and Subprogramme Area	H2020-CS2-CFP11-2020-01
Project Type	Clean Sky 2 Research & Innovation Action
Contract Number	Grant Agreement 101007712
Co-ordinator	FUNDACION CIDETEC (ES)

Funding for the Project (€)	Funding for Hereon (€)
999,897	208,165

Contact Person at Hereon

Dr. Daniel Höche, Prof. Dr. Mikhail Zheludkevich, Institute of Surface Science, Department of Interface Modelling, Phone: +49 4152 87 1914, +49 4152 87 1988 E-mail contact

Participants

Electroless Hard Coat S.A. (ES), ELSYCA NV (BE), Fundacion Azterlan (ES), Fundacion CIDETEC (ES), Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH (DE)

Last Update: 03. February 2023