Hydrogen generation and absorption in steel

Abstract

The main objective of the present diploma thesis was the research support in the analysis of the influence of electric field effects on oils in contact with steel surfaces with an emphasis on hydrogen generation and permeation in steel. The main focus of the thesis was the optimization of the test method concerning reproducibility. For this purpose, two different lubricants BO318 and PFPE were tested by measuring the hydrogen permeation flow through a steel membrane using electrochemical Devanathan and Stachurski technique. A reproducibility of the results was achieved by changing the pretreatment of the steel samples and by drying the filter paper impregnated with the lubricants. By comparing the results of the different test series of the PFPE oil, it was noticed that the measured current at the end of the tests was in the same value range. During experiments it was revealed that secondary hydrogen is constantly generated on the counter electrode. Thus, in order to prevent the diffusion of the hydrogen from the cathode to the anode, and thus to avoid its contribution to the hydrogen generation and permeation occurring from the steel-oil contact, the cell was constantly purged with nitrogen. This approach proved to be successful, allowing the true protonic current being measured in the conducted experiments.