Stainless Steel for Hydrogen Service Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- 37.4% of all 1,927 records sit with just five assignees, and the top ten reach 52.0% — this field has a concentrated core and a long tail.
- 77.9% of records carry C22C alloy composition claims versus 38.8% for heat treatment, showing where claim space is most occupied and where it is thinner.
- Filing grew 22% from 2021 to 2024 (51 to 62 records), with 2023 the peak year so far at 118 — the field is still active, not settling.
Filing growth compares 2021 (51 records) with 2024 (62) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,927 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Stainless steel for hydrogen service covers alloy compositions, heat treatments and surface engineering developed to resist hydrogen embrittlement and hydrogen environment embrittlement in pressurised gas systems. The corpus tracked here spans 1,927 published records filed between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off, drawn from filings that reference austenitic stainless steel composition, austenite stability, high-pressure hydrogen exposure and related fatigue and strain-rate test methods.
Filing concentrates in alloy composition and heat-treatment claims, with thinner activity in welding, coating, rolling and seal-interface work. The pattern of a few large filers holding a substantial share of records, alongside a long tail of smaller filers, is typical of a field with an established core technology still under active incremental development.
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Filing trends and technology composition
The dataset spans 1,927 records published between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off. Filing activity and technology mix below use the same record base throughout, so shares are directly comparable across sections.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Annual filings ran from 65 in 2017 to a peak of 118 in 2023. Growth from 2021 (51) to 2024 (62) came to +22% over that three-year span; 2024 is the most recent year complete enough to read as a trend, since publication typically lags filing by around 18 months and 2025-2026 figures are still filling in.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
Alloy composition claims (C22C) appear in 77.9% of the 1,927 records and heat treatment (C21D) in 38.8%, making these the two subclasses where claim space is most occupied. Welding (B23K, 8.2%), pressure vessels (F17C, 3.4%), coatings (C23C, 3.1%), rolling (B21B, 2.8%), non-ferrous treatment (C22F, 2.5%) and seals (F16J, 2.0%) are documented but thinner. Records can carry multiple IPC classes, so these shares add up to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,927 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Stainless Steel for Hydrogen Service with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about stainless steel for hydrogen service and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA representative claim from the corpus
High-strength austenitic stainless steel having excellent hydrogen embrittlement resistance characteristics and method for producing same
This high-strength austenitic stainless steel having excellent hydrogen embrittlement resistance characteristics includes, by mass %, C: 0.2% or less, Si: 0.3% to 1.5%, Mn: 7.0% to 11.0%, P: 0.06% or less, S: 0.008% or less, Ni: 5.0% to 10.0%, Cr: 14.0% to 20.0%, Cu: 1.0% to 5.0%, N: 0.01% to 0.4%, and O: 0.015% or less, with the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, wherein an average size of Cr-based carbonitrides is 100 nm or less, and an amount of the Cr-based carbonitrides is 0.001% to 0.5% in terms of mass %.Filed by Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Corporation, published 2018-02-01.
View full record in Eureka| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20140018862A1 | Variable angle bone fixation device | 172 |
| 2 | WO2002027056A1 | Ferritic-austenitic stainless steel | 149 |
| 3 | US20070068605A1 | Method of metal performance improvement and protection against degradation and suppression thereof by ultraso… | 138 |
| 4 | JP2009074122A | Low alloy steel for high pressure hydrogen gas environment, and vessel for high pressure hydrogen | 129 |
| 5 | US4609577A | Method of producing weld overlay of austenitic stainless steel | 112 |
| 6 | WO2004111285A1 | Austenitic stainless steel for hydrogen gas and method for production thereof | 101 |
| 7 | US3152934A | Process for treating austenite stainless steels | 86 |
| 8 | US5527020A | Differentially heat treated article, and apparatus and process for the manufacture thereof | 84 |
| 9 | US20070163679A1 | Austenitic-ferritic stainless steel | 79 |
| 10 | US4798635A | Ferritic-austenitic stainless steel | 79 |
Citation counts favour older publications, which have had more time to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus; use rank as a signal of influence rather than current relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the filing data actually signals
Three patterns stand out once the numbers are read against their correct denominators: where claims are dense, how fast the field is moving, and which records other filers keep citing back to.
A small group holds a third of the field
The leading assignee alone holds 238 records; the fifth-place filer holds 89. That gap between first and fifth suggests one or two firms built an early, broad position that the rest of the field has not matched.
Activity is still building, not settling
Growth from 51 records in 2021 to 62 in 2024 confirms the field remains active through its most recently complete filing year. The 2023 peak of 118 records is the high point so far.
Older records still anchor the field's prior art
The most-cited records date from well before the recent filing surge, which is typical: citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older documents simply because they have had longer to be cited, not because they are more relevant today.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to stainless steel for hydrogen service, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The assignee ranking returned by the data endpoint covers 100 companies, ranked by record count — not a curated top-50 or top-100 list, but the full ranking available. Reading it alongside recent-year momentum shows where filing has slowed even among established leaders.
One filer holds a clear lead
The leading assignee's 238 records sit well ahead of the fifth-place filer's 89, indicating an early and sustained filing programme rather than a recent surge.
The field thins quickly past the top ten
Record counts fall from 89 at fifth place to 38 at tenth, and the top ten together still represent just over half of all records (52.0%), leaving the remaining ranked assignees and the unranked tail to split the rest.
Leading filers show reduced recent-year activity
Several of the most prolific historical assignees show flat or declining year-over-year filing counts, which may reflect portfolio maturity or the 18-month publication lag rather than an actual pullback.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Nippon Steel Corporation | 2 | -33% |
| Outokumpu Oyj | 0 | -100% |
| JFE Steel Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (POSCO) | 0 | — |
| ATI Properties Inc. | 0 | — |
| Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp. | 0 | — |
| Kobe Steel, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis next
The trends above point to specific follow-up work depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, licensing or new filing strategy.
Map the leading assignee's full portfolio
With 238 records held by the leading filer alone, a design-around or licensing strategy should start by tracing that portfolio's claim scope in full, not by reading isolated records.
Search assignee portfolios in EurekaTest claim language against the white space branches
Seal, coating and rolling-process claims carry markedly lower filing density than core alloy composition; drafting a first claim there should be checked against existing filings before committing.
Run a claim-scope check in EurekaTrack the newest filing year as it fills in
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 figures will keep changing; revisit the trend once those years are more complete.
Set a filing alert in EurekaFrequently asked questions
Austenitic grades with carefully balanced nickel and manganese content, engineered for austenite stability under strain, dominate the patent filings in this dataset — C22C alloy composition claims appear in 77.9% of the 1,927 records in scope. The specific answer depends on service pressure and temperature, but claims consistently pair a stated elemental range with a microstructural control such as carbonitride precipitate size. Ferritic-austenitic (duplex) compositions also appear among the most-cited records, suggesting they remain a reference point even where filing volume is lower.
Filing is concentrated at the top: the five leading assignees together account for 37.4% of the 1,927 records in scope, and the ten leading assignees reach 52.0%. The single leading assignee holds 238 records, well ahead of the fifth-place filer at 89 and the tenth-place filer at 38. Beyond the ranked leaders there is a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants, which is typical of a field with an established core technology and ongoing incremental improvement around it.
Filing grew 22% from 51 records in 2021 to 62 in 2024, the most recent year that can be read reliably given an average 18-month lag between filing and publication. The field peaked so far at 118 records in 2023. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete and should not be read as a decline; they will continue to fill in as publications catch up.
US20180030566A1, assigned to Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Corporation and filed with a 2018-02-01 date, claims a high-strength austenitic stainless steel defined by a specific multi-element composition (including Mn 7.0-11.0%, Ni 5.0-10.0%, Cr 14.0-20.0%) combined with a microstructural limitation on Cr-based carbonitride size and volume fraction. It blocks compositions and precipitate profiles that fall inside both the elemental ranges and the microstructural window simultaneously. Formulations that shift any one variable outside the stated ranges, or that control precipitates by a different mechanism, sit outside the claim as described.
The thinnest documented branches relative to the 1,927-record base are seal and gasket interfaces for high-pressure hydrogen systems (F16J, 2.0%) and non-ferrous treatment applied alongside stainless substrates (C22F, 2.5%). Rolling-process claims (B21B, 2.8%) are similarly light. These branches carry far less filing density than core alloy composition, meaning there is more room to file a defensible first claim, though also less established prior art to build a case against.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.