1. Effects of Mechanical Stress on the Phase Stability in Metal-Hydrogen Systems Andrew Craft, Department of Chemistry, University of Hartford
Hydrogen holds great promise as a primary fuel. Hydrogen is highly energetic. Hydrogen burns clean with water as the sole product of combustion. Hydrogen is abundant. But how do we store hydrogen safely? How about in a metal or alloy?
Once absorbed in the metal matrix, hydrogen is stable and safe. Metal-hydrogen phase diagrams are a convenient way to represent the hydrogen storage ability of metals and alloys. Such phase diagrams represent the temperature and composition ranges over which various phases are stable. But what happens to the phase characteristics of a metal-hydrogen system if the metal has experienced mechanical stress (as it surely will in real-world applications)? Our research is seeking to understand how the phase characteristics illustrated by a phase diagram are altered by mechanically stressing the metal matrix.