When pressure sensors come into contact with hydrogen, this often results in difficulties. Unfortunately, I frequently notice in my own job our customers are not aware of this prior to use. This is why they often do not even tell us that their medium contains hydrogen. We only find out when we receive a complaint. But why do we get a complaint? How come especially hydrogen so critical to pressure sensors?
A basic rule is that a lot of metals become brittle when exposed to hydrogen. Hydrogen atoms that diffuse in to the metal grid change the strength of the material. In the worst case, this results in cracks in the material. Or to put it simply, the pressure sensor starts leaking or is completely destroyed. In the case of pressure sensors, in particular thin membranes necessary for measuring pressure play a decisive role. Atomic hydrogen can not only penetrate the metal, but additionally go through it by diffusion.
It has several effects: When piezoresistive measuring principles are used, it becomes critical if hydrogen reacts with the internal transmission medium or accumulates there. This initially only falsifies the measurement results, but can down the road also lead to complete destruction of the sensor in individual cases. Agitated of hydrogen also changes the instrumentation characteristics of the resistance structures of the measurement bridge of thin-film sensors. Despite being reversible, this technique results in a detuning of the bridge at the very least temporarily, resulting in a falsification of the measurement signal.
However, the consequences described above occur in different materials differently. Because of this the consequences of hydrogen could be lowered substantially by selecting suitable materials.
Note
Further information on our pressure sensors and on the subject of hydrogen can be found on the WIKA website. If you are using hydrogen as the medium, your contact will gladly recommend an optimum solution for the application.