Room-temperature desorption of /sup 3/He from metal tritides: A tritium concentration effect on the rapid release of helium from the tritide

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1977 · J. Vac. Sci. Technol.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.569291· OSTI ID:7317762

Beavis, L C; Kass, W J

It has long been known that /sup 3/He accumulates in metal tritides as tritium decays. Early in life nearly 100% of the /sup 3/He is retained in the lattice. It has also been noted that as a critical concentration is reached (material dependent) the lattice will no longer retain the /sup 3/He, and it is emitted at about the generation rate. We have recently made measurements on a number of erbium tritides with varying concentrations in the ditritide phase. The expected early release characteristics are observed for all of the samples. However, ditritides with higher tritium concentrations reach the rapid release state at much lower /sup 3/He concentrations. For instance, the helium-to-metal concentration for rapid release in the unsaturated ditritide is about 0.22, whereas it is only one-tenth this value in the saturated ditritide. The additional tritium in the tritide appears to be the cause of the this effect.

• Research Organization: Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87115
• OSTI ID: 7317762
• Journal Information: J. Vac. Sci. Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Vac. Sci. Technol.; (United States) Vol. 14:1; ISSN JVSTA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360603* -- Materials-- Properties
BASIC INTERACTIONS
BETA DECAY
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DECAY
DESORPTION
ERBIUM COMPOUNDS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GAS ANALYSIS
HELIUM 3
HELIUM ISOTOPES
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INTERACTIONS
ISOTOPES
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LEPTONIC DECAY
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PARTICLE DECAY
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE EARTH COMPOUNDS
SPECTROSCOPY
STABLE ISOTOPES
TRITIUM
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
ULTRAHIGH VACUUM
WEAK INTERACTIONS
WEAK PARTICLE DECAY
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES