New challenges to tribology in hydrogen

The research group of Kyushu University and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology are carrying out a project called "Fundamental Research Project on Advanced Hydrogen Science". The goal of the project is to establish fundamentals of tribology in hydrogen for safe and reliable design of machines for hydrogen applications. The project covers material strength in high pressure hydrogen, thermo-physical properties of hydrogen, and tribology in hydrogen. A discussion covers the challenges in this project; some practical applications as background; and necessary things to be done for establishing fundamental technological ground in tribology for the future energy. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the World Tribology Congress (Kyoto, Japan 9/6-11/2009).