Royce Hydrogen Conference 2026
Tuesday 22 September 2026, 09:00-17:00
Imperial College London
Event information
Event type: Conference
Date and time: Tuesday 22 September 2026, 09:00-17:00
Location: Imperial College London
This year's Royce Hydrogen Conference was hosted at Imperial College London, a partner of Henry Royce Institute of Advanced Materials.
It brought together a wide range of research covering hydrogen-materials interactions, testing methods and service engineering, and gave a clear view of the progress made and next challenges identified in hydrogen engineering and technology.
Both Dr Francesco Fanicchia and Dr Vikesh Kumar from Royce at Cranfield presented their latest research on surface engineering and tribology for high pressure valves used in hydrogen applications, and the hydrogen thresholds of cast iron for hydrogen internal combustion engines looking at embrittlement and permeability (see below for more information).
Vikesh, our application scientist reported benefitting from hearing about research close to his own field from Leeds, also on hydrogen barrier coatings and tribology, NPL on high temperature permeation in composite materials, relevant to hydrogen transportation, and Finden on advanced characterisation using XRD-CT and neutron tomography, to help understand materials and degradation mechanisms in more detail. Reflecting on the conference Vikesh commented:
"Sharing different experimental approaches, materials and applications to address common challenges in hydrogen technologies provides a broader understanding of current research and industry challenges. It introduced me to new testing and characterisation approaches, and highlighted opportunities for future collaboration."
Dr Vikesh Kumar, Application Scientist, Royce at Cranfield
Surface engineering: the tribology of high-pressure valves for hydrogen applications
This project aims to identify a durable, hydrogen-compatible coating treatment for Inconel 718 and A286 high-pressure valve components.
We evaluate different coatings using electrochemical and gaseous hydrogen permeation, scratch and wear testing, and microstructural characterisation to determine:
- hydrogen barrier performance,
- mechanical durability,
- failure mechanisms,
- valve applications suitability.
Dr Francesco Fanicchia, Research Area Lead for Materials Systems in Demanding Environments (MS4DE), Royce at Cranfield
Hydrogen uptake in hydrogen combustion engine components - cast iron head and block:
CAST-HAWAY.
This project aims to quantify hydrogen transport and hydrogen-assisted degradation in cast iron to reliably predict the durability and lifetime of high-power hydrogen combustion engine components.
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