Hollow sample hydrogen testing (Rolls Royce)

Hydrogen is a key enabler in the transition to net-zero, with applications spanning transport, aerospace, and heavy industry. However, its use—especially under high-pressure, high-temperature, or cryogenic conditions—introduces complex material and safety challenges. Accurate assessment of mechanical performance in these environments is essential to generate reliable data for design databases, predictive models, and safety validation.

Despite growing demand, there remains a lack of UK-based, commercially available, test capabilities for hydrogen environments with the required scope, accuracy, reliability and repeatability.

With UKAS flexible scope accreditation (Lab 26942) for temperature, pressure, force and strain, and a proven track record of working with customers to provide innovative testing, Darvick setup and validated a testing programme to compare the effect of hydrogen versus nitrogen on two aerospace alloys. The testing used hollow samples with internal hydrogen pressure up to 70bar, temperatures up to 600C, and strain controlled Slow Strain Rate Tensile tests.

The test are based on BS ISO 7039:2024 “Metallic materials – Tensile testing – Method for evaluating the susceptibility of materials to the effects of high pressure gas within hollow test pieces”

“Understanding the degradation of materials in hydrogen under elevated pressure and temperature is key to derisking the development of hydrogen as a potential alternative fuel for aerospace gas turbines – but there is a gap in UK test capability in this area. The hollow specimen testing completed by Darvick, as part of the HYEST programme, generated data on the effect of hydrogen under conditions that we had not previously been able to achieve and helped derisk our hydrogen demonstrator engine”  Louise Gale, Material Specialist