The use of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels is an increasingly popular solution to cope with global warming and meet the goals of reducing CO2 emissions. However, hydrogen tanks have limited
performance due to the early detachment of the liner with the composite. The project aims at improving the durability of the wound tank and to delay the optimum use time. The rupture of the interface between the liner and the composite may lead to a situation in which the tank does not longer assure its functionality as a reservoir. The ISIBHY project aims to increase the liner-composite assembly performances by improving the adhesive formulation and performing specific thermomechanical tests to understand the mechanisms at stake in explosive decompression process. Through testing and simulations of interfacial failure, the results are ultimately expected to enable the design of the next generation materials able to sustain the effect of explosive decompression.
Innovation capacity and integration of new knowledge
From the economic point of view, the phenomenon of collapse is intrinsic to type IV tanks and all manufacturers are faced to this issue.
For some industrial markets, this limits the use of the Type IV technology and introduces specific constraints. Understanding the use limits of this type of tanks will allow determining the accessible markets for future production. This program will help paving the way for industrialization by the understanding of all involved mechanisms of the joint behavior up to failure and including optimization of the glue formulation.
Competitiveness and growth of companies (market analysis where relevant).
The recommendations for the design of optimized tanks will allow developing future generations of tanks adapted to more demanding markets in terms of performance (number of cycles, high flows, etc.). For the hydrogen energy markets, it is possible to cite, in particular, the supply of high electrical powers requiring high flows or the buffer capacities of vehicle filling stations characterized by a number of very high pressure cycles with pressure amplitudes. The concerned industries are the tank manufacturers (such as, for instance, STELIA composites Bordeaux) and gas manufacturers (such as, for instance, AIR LIQUIDE).
Environmental and societal impacts
The employment of this kind of structures may lead to evident cost and CO2 emission reduction, both in the automotive and in the aeronautical sector. Starting from 2011, major automotive manufacturers (such as, for instance, Hyundai, Toyota…) are pushing the commercialization of first commercial fuel cell vehicle series, by using this kind of structural systems. This implies the ability to predict the damage and degradation behavior, the bursting pressure and the modes of rupture for such kind of structures. The project will pave the way to a better understanding of all these phenomena, leading to the design of optimized safe and lightweight systems.