Use of Non-Destructive Hydrogen Content Sensors to Monitor Material Integrity

Abstract The development of a new paradigm in materials characterization is underway in which hydrogen and other crucial material properties are monitored to allow accurate mitigation of problems before damage can occur. Hydrogen is notorious for its dynamic, hard-to-detect, and corrosive nature in materials. In many cases, hydrogen damage is responsible for failures in which hydrogen was never attributed as the cause, including many cases commonly ascribed to stress corrosion cracking and a variety of other failure mechanisms. Non-destructive sensors have been developed for rapid determination of hydrogen and hydride content in steels, stainless steels, and advanced materials. The non-destructive sensors operate at the electronic level making them even more sensitive than existing destructive analytical techniques at very low hydrogen concentrations. The sensors assess the electronic structure of the material and any perturbations in the electronic structure. Electronic, magnetic, and elastic properties have all been correlated to fundamental properties of materials. With proper calibration and standardization, electronic and electromagnetic techniques can be utilized for real-time, non-destructive hydrogen content measurements.