👋 Hi! I’m Jubica, a doctoral researcher at Ghent University, specializing in the impact of hydrogen on pipeline steels to ensure the safety and reliability of hydrogen infrastructure. My work is a collaboration with Fluxys (a Belgian pipeline network operator) and the Soete Laboratory.

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Research Focus 🎯 and Key Themes 🔑

• My doctoral research investigates the impact of hydrogen on pipeline steels to support material selection for safe hydrogen service.
• A key focus has been to establish a screening methodology by identifying critical material parameters that influence hydrogen sensitivity.
• I have developed a gaseous charging method using autoclaves to study hydrogen uptake under static conditions.
• I have also explored the role of oxygen as a gaseous inhibitor to limit hydrogen absorption, with a focus on concentrations, temperatures, and pressures closer to real-world applications.
• I have studied the effects of cathodic overprotection on pipeline steels by investigating different charging current densities.
• I have analyzed cross-sections of various pipeline steel base materials.
• I have developed the hydrogen microprint technique in-house to study the preferential hydrogen sites in steels.

Technical Expertise and Methods 🔧

My expertise covers a range of advanced methods for materials and hydrogen characterization:

• Microstructural Characterization: Light Optical Microscopy (LOM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). I also integrated Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) results from a collaboration with SCK to complement microstructural insights.
• Hydrogen Characterization Techniques: Electrochemical Hydrogen Permeation, Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS), electrochemical hydrogen charging, gaseous hydrogen charging setups, and the hydrogen microprinting technique.
• Data Analysis & Interpretation: I have quantified hydrogen diffusivity from permeation experiments, identified and characterized hydrogen trapping sites from TDS experiments, and simulated hydrogen uptake under targeted experimental conditions.

Academic Contributions and Recognition 🎓

Finalist at EGATEC Young Researchers’ Awards 2024

Beyond my core research, I have guided one Master’s thesis and several Bachelor’s thesis students. I have also assisted and collaborated with fellow PhD researchers and disseminated my findings through conferences and seminars to both industry and academia. My work was recognized as a finalist for the EGATEC Young Researchers’ Awards 2024 and selected as one of 27 outstanding papers for presentation at the Energy Pipeline Innovation Conference (EPIC25).

Funding 💰 and Acknowledgements 📊

The research has received financial support from the Energy Transition Fund via the HyFit and HySource projects in collaboration with Fluxys. The research is also supported by FWO.