Prof. Christoph Kirchlechner
17/11/2026
אודיטוריום ע"ש דויד וואנג, בניין מידן, קומה 3
13:30
Hydrogen is considered a potential game changer in the transition to clean energy systems with lower CO2 emissions. However, hydrogen embrittlement (HE) has remained a major concern for safe storage and transportation of hydrogen as well as structural materials degradation until today. Its underlying mechanisms are still under debate due to the challenge in tracking and quantifying hydrogen at various length and time scales. The ERC-funded project “TRITIum based microMEchanics (TRITIME)” aims to isolate, observe, and quantify the debated mechanisms responsible for HE, leveraging the unique properties of tritium (3H). In the talk, we will present the concept of tritium-based micromechanics and discuss the resolution limits at the nano-/microscale.
To overcome the limitations associated with background hydrogen, we start with a benchmarking test using atom probe tomography (APT) for local detecting and tracking tritium incorporation over time, validated by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and thermal desorption analysis (TDA) measurements. Pop-in statistics using spherical nanoindentation as well as in situ micropillar compression allow for quantifying the nucleation, multiplication and motion of dislocations in body centered cubic iron. The talk will highlight the dual role of hydrogen and its isotopes in dislocation dynamics: by likely reducing the dislocation core energy, hydrogen facilitates dislocation multiplication (Protium at room temperature), while under certain conditions it can kinetically impede dislocation motion (Tritium at room temperature).