Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV
Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV

MaTCH – Production of thermoplastic composite pipes for hydrogen transport

Thermoplastic pultrusion for composite pipes in hydrogen transport

Hydrogen as an energy carrier with new requirements for piping systems

The rise of the hydrogen economy is placing new demands on materials and manufacturing processes for fluid-carrying pipe systems. Applications in mobility, energy distribution, and industry require lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and diffusion-tight solutions that can also be manufactured economically. Conventional metallic pipe systems are increasingly reaching their limits in this regard, particularly in terms of weight, corrosion behavior, and susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement.

Limitations of metallic pipe systems and existing composite solutions

Metallic pipes are well established in the hydrogen sector, but they have significant disadvantages. In addition to their high weight, hydrogen embrittlement of steels poses a critical challenge, as it can lead to a reduction in ductility and, in the long term, to impaired component safety and even failure.

Fiber-reinforced plastics offer high lightweight construction potential and are insensitive to hydrogen embrittlement, but have so far been used predominantly with thermoset matrix systems in the pipe sector. These are only recyclable to a limited extent, which makes it difficult to implement closed material cycles at the end of their service life.

Thermoplastic pultrusion as a key technology

This is where the MaTCH research project comes in. The aim is to develop a thermoplastic pultrusion process for continuous fiber-reinforced composite pipes that exploits the advantages of thermoplastic matrix systems – in particular recyclability, formability, and joinability. The focus is on the reliable implementation of thermoplastic braided and wound pultrusion for the production of pipe structures with high performance for hydrogen applications.

Target groups and project objectives

MaTCH is aimed at composite manufacturers and industrial users who want to develop or use thermoplastic lightweight solutions for demanding fluid-carrying applications. The aim of the project is to develop a scalable, industrially relevant pultrusion process that forms the basis for sustainability and high performance in the form of composite pipes and opens up new application possibilities in the field of hydrogen transport.

Development of a thermoplastic pultrusion process for composite pipes

The main objective of the MaTCH project is to develop a thermoplastic pultrusion process for manufacturing continuous fiber-reinforced composite pipes. The focus is on the stable and reproducible processing of thermoplastic matrix systems in combination with continuous, multiaxial fiber reinforcements. This will create a technological basis for high-performance pipe structures in the hydrogen environment.

Thermoplastic braiding and winding pultrusion as process variants

The project uses braiding and winding pultrusion as variants of thermoplastic pultrusion. These processes enable load-adapted fiber placement along the pipe geometry. The focus is on the reliable implementation of these processes with thermoplastic materials under continuous production conditions, including impregnation, consolidation, and process stability.

Coupling of pultrusion with overmolding processes

To create functional piping systems, the thermoplastic pultrusion process is coupled with downstream overmolding processes. These are implemented by the project partner Autenrieth Kunststofftechnik and serve to integrate connecting and functional elements. MaTCH thus addresses not only the manufacture of composite pipes but also the procedural implementation of complete piping systems.

Design and manufacture of several piping demonstrators

Based on the developed processes, several demonstrators are manufactured that represent different materials, processes, and designs. The demonstrators represent realistic piping systems and are used to evaluate process robustness, component quality, and reproducibility under industry-like conditions.

System testing: hydrogen tightness and mechanical performance

An essential part of MaTCH is the experimental investigation of the manufactured demonstrators. The piping systems are comprehensively tested for hydrogen tightness and mechanical performance. The results are used to validate the developed process chain and provide reliable data for evaluating thermoplastic composite pipes for hydrogen applications.

Transferability to industrial applications

The process and system approaches developed in the project can be transferred to other applications. MaTCH thus creates a basis for composite manufacturers who want to develop, evaluate, and potentially industrialize thermoplastic pipe solutions for demanding fluid-carrying applications.

Current project status and outlook

MaTCH has been successfully launched and is currently in the process and system development phase. The focus is on the design and implementation of the thermoplastic pultrusion process and on coordinating the interfaces within the process chain. Based on this, several demonstrators of composite piping systems will be manufactured, representing different materials and process variants. These demonstrators will be comprehensively tested in the following project phases. In addition to mechanical performance, the focus will be on investigating the hydrogen tightness of the entire piping systems. The aim is to obtain a reliable assessment of the developed processes and their suitability for demanding hydrogen applications. MaTCH is embedded in the ongoing research activities of Fraunhofer IGCV in the field of pultrusion and builds on findings from the DRIFT, RAILS, and AntiStatic projects. While AntiStatic investigated braided pultrusion with thermoset matrix systems, MaTCH specifically expands this work to include thermoplastic process approaches and their application to pipe structures for hydrogen transport.

Beyond the project, Fraunhofer IGCV has technologies for further processing thermoplastic pipes, in particular by bending pipes. This allows complex, three-dimensional pipe systems to be created from straight composite pipes. This opens up additional degrees of freedom for integration into complex pipe systems and assemblies. The process approaches developed in MaTCH form an important basis for this and tie in directly with the bending technology of Fraunhofer IGCV.