Use Case: Degassing heat treatment for electroplated components

Degassing heat treatment is used to drive hydrogen out of electroplated components in order to prevent hydrogen embrittlement. Such heat treatments are usually based on experimental trials, and the guidelines regarding temperatures and treatment times are often imprecise. This leads to conservative, time and cost-intensive processes that do not adequately account for the specific coating-substrate system and component geometry.

The electroplated coating influences the hydrogen concentration in the component, leading to local accumulations and thus an increased risk of embrittlement. Furthermore, the diffusion and effusion kinetics of hydrogen vary across different coating systems. This complicates the reliable prediction and design of heat treatment, which is why conservative times are often chosen in practice, resulting in economic disadvantages.

Knowledge-based heat treatment strategies are more effective for safe, economical, and application-specific degassing. The challenge here lies in mastering the complex interactions between the coating, hydrogen diffusion, and component geometry.

Using a multiparametric model that integrates the physical processes of hydrogen diffusion and expulsion while accounting for coating systems and component geometry, the local distribution of hydrogen can be estimated. The diffusion of atomic hydrogen in the metallic lattice as well as the trapping behavior can be simulated. Hydrogen content and mobility are determined using analytical methods (e.g., thermal desorption spectroscopy, carrier gas hot extraction, and H-permeation measurements) to provide the simulation models with real measurement data. The model thus enables a rapid and precise design of the degassing heat treatment while avoiding excessively long degassing heat treatments. The models can be applied to coated components using FEM simulations of hydrogen distribution.

A simulation tool can thus be used to plan customized, safe, and cost-effective degassing heat treatments.

Our research and development services for customer-specific degassing heat treatments

• Development and validation of analytical methods for hydrogen measurement,
• Characterization of coating-substrate systems,
• Adaptation and calibration of multi-parameter simulation models,
• Provision of a software tool for process design,
• Conducting mechanical tests on samples and components.
• These services are applicable to comparable problems where hydrogen embrittlement plays a role in coated or complex components.

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