HYDROGEN DIFFUSION IN HCP Zr

Abstract

The hydrogen terminal solid solubility (TSS) in Zr-2.5Nb samples, has been studied. The samples were aged at 470 ^◦C for 10 h, followed by a hydrogen gaseous charge plus an homogenization treatment at 470 ^◦C - 6h in order of distributing the hydrogen throughout the sample’s bulk. The microstructure was characterized by Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and X-Rays. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) test were carried out to determine the hydrides dissolution and precipitation temperatures from which the hydrogen TSS curves were obtained. Our results reveal that the thermal treatment employed has not significantly affected the microstructure compared to treatments at 380 ^◦C of other authors; however, the hydrogen TSS is slighty higher.