Hawkins Webinar - The Effects of Hydrogen on Materials Properties: Hawkins’ Experience in the Context of Insurance Claims

In this session Dr Lin Sun will introduce the basic characteristics of hydrogen, the current trend for its applications, and its effects on materials. Lin includes recent examples of materials failures in the context of insurance claims.

The learning objectives are:

• A brief discussion about hydrogen and its properties
• Understanding the hydrogen lifecycle and associated material challenges
• A look at the effects of hydrogen on metals and alloys
• The effects of hydrogen on polymeric materials

Lin began his scientific career by conducting PhD research on the structure-property-performance relationship of various engineering alloys during thermomechanical processing at the University of Sheffield. His work led to numerous publications in top international materials science journals, and was recognised by the award of an Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the Recrystallization & Grain Growth International Committee in 2010 and the Brunton Medal and Premium from The University of Sheffield in 2012. During his PhD study, Lin also worked on numerous consultancy projects involving advanced physical simulation and electron microscopy to investigate and solve materials processing problems faced by industrial clients.

After his PhD, Lin pivoted to applied R&D by joining the Advanced Forming Research Centre as a Project Lead of the Materials Characterisation team. He was in charge of delivering multi-million pound Government and customer funded R&D projects to global industrial partners in the aerospace and defence sectors. He was responsible for the development and commercialisation of a wide range of metals manufacturing and joining technologies. He was also heavily involved in establishing and expanding the capabilities of the materials characterisation laboratory of the centre.

In 2013, Lin joined the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at University of Cambridge as a Research Associate where he worked on the design, development and characterisation of novel alloys for mechanical transmission systems in gas turbine jet engines. His work led to the successful invention of iron-based superalloys with ultra-high strength, good toughness and high temperature capabilities that are commercialised by Rolls-Royce for use in the next generation of large civil jet engines.

Continuing with his interests in high temperature materials and turbomachinery, Lin joined then ALSTOM Power in 2015 as a Materials Project Leader to work on projects developing materials and process solutions for thermal power generation products such as steam and gas turbines, boilers and heat recovery steam generators. After the merger of ALSTOM and GE Power businesses in late 2015, Lin transitioned to the role of Lead Engineer – Materials Science and Engineering in the global Materials and Processes Engineering (MPE) team. There he conducted numerous forensic investigations of failures in power plants worldwide, ranging from simple rail track fasteners in auxiliary facility to rotors and blades in the heart of a turbine; encountering a wide range of failure and degradation mechanisms such as high and low cycle fatigue, thermomechanical fatigue, creep, environment assisted cracking, embrittlement, corrosion, erosion, wear, and impact damage. He also provided his metallurgical expertise in root cause analysis of product failures for other GE businesses such as Energy Connection, Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas.

To further expand his developing interests in forensic investigation, Lin joined Hawkins in September 2017 as an Associate specialising in metallurgical, materials and mechanical failure analysis. Lin is based in Hawkins Birmingham office.

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