The development of a new paradigm in materials characterization is underway in which
hydrogen and other crucial material properties are monitored to allow accurate mitigation of
problems before damage can occur. Hydrogen is notorious for its dynamic, hard-to-detect, and
corrosive nature in materials. In many cases, hydrogen damage is responsible for failures in
which hydrogen was never attributed as the cause, including many cases commonly ascribed
to stress corrosion cracking and a variety of other failure mechanisms. Non-destructive
sensors have been developed for rapid determination of hydrogen and hydride content in
steels, stainless steels, and advanced materials. The non-destructive sensors operate at the
electronic level making them even more sensitive than existing destructive analytical
techniques at very low hydrogen concentrations. The sensors assess the electronic structure
of the material and any perturbations in the electronic structure. Electronic, magnetic, and
elastic properties have all been correlated to fundamental properties of materials. With proper
calibration and standardization, electronic and electromagnetic techniques can be utilized for
real-time, non-destructive hydrogen content measurements.
Keywords: hydrogen, hydride, non-destructive sensor