Hydrogen embrittlement could lead to failure of fuel-cell cars

This is the concern of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials in Freiburg, Germany, where specialist teams are studying a phenomena known as hydrogen-induced embrittlement.

Hydrogen is viewed as an eventual alternative to fossil fuels for transport, but the chemical element has an unusual way of making common vehicle metals such as steel, aluminium and magnesium brittle.

It has been shown that hydrogen can infiltrate metal lattice through corrosion or during chromium plating of car parts. This infiltration may also occur during welding, milling or pressing. The result is always the same: the material may tear or break without warning.

In a fuel-cell vehicle this could have detrimental effects on everything from the fuel tank and parts of the fuel cell to ordinary components such as ball bearings.

Nicholas Winzer, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials, said problems associated with hydrogen-induced embrittlement have been published since the early 1800s, but the issue still has no clear resolution.