Tue, 26 May, 2026
Interested parties involved in offshore industries are invited to join as sponsors for a new joint industry project (JIP) to assess the suitability of a wide range of alloys for use in subsea and splash zone fasteners.
Fastener materials used for offshore applications require a combination of excellent corrosion resistance, high mechanical strength and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. These properties are particularly critical for splash zone fasteners, where the connections are exposed to repeated wetting and drying cycles as well as to cathodic protection when fully immersed.
Precipitation-hardened nickel alloys with a high pitting corrosion resistance and mechanical strength have been traditionally employed for these applications, but there are concerns over their long-term integrity due to a potential susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement, especially where pre- load and in-service stresses induce high strain at threads and grooves.
This JIP will address this challenge through the assessment of a wide range of alternative alloys for use in subsea and splash zone applications to see if they perform better than the current solutions.
The outcomes of the project will assess the integrity of the fasteners in terms of applied load, evolution of strain, corrosion resistance, and threshold hydrogen embrittlement performance, with the result being made available to the project sponsors.
You can find out more about this project and how to join, here:
https://www.twi-global.com/what-we-do/research-and-technology/research-programmes/joint-industry-projects/corrosion-resistant-subsea-and-splashzone-fasteners