Abstract:
Rubber seals were key components in high-pressure hydrogen storage systems. However, rubber materials were prone to volume expansion in high-pressure hydrogen environments, which further led to seal failure and compromised the overall safety of the system. In practical applications, factors such as rubber material type, hydrogen pressure, ambient temperature, depressurization rate, and standing time after depressurization significantly affected the hydrogen compatibility of rubber seals.This study systematically evaluated the influence laws of the above factors on the mass change rate and volume change rate of rubber sealing materials. The results show that when the depressurization time was controlled within 10 s, the depressurization rate had little effect on material properties. Temperature was the dominant factor determining the hydrogen compatibility of materials, high temperature significantly enhanced the permeability and diffusion of hydrogen, leading to intensified volume expansion of the material, while low temperature effectively inhibited such swelling effect. Although the increase in hydrogen pressure had a limited effect on mass change, it aggravated the volume expansion of rubber. Properly extending the standing time after depressurization could significantly reduce the swelling degree of the material.The research results provided important reference value for the selection and design of sealing materials for high-pressure hydrogen storage systems and the improvement of system safety.