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Adsorption of cesium onto polycrystalline tantalum surfaces

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7343640
The amount of cesium which adsorbs onto polycrystalline tantalum is determined by a technique which utilizes radioactively tagged cesium in conjunction with a specially designed test vehicle. Tantalum surface temperatures of 500 to 1700/sup 0/K and cesium arrival rates of 10/sup 15/ to 10/sup 21/ atoms/cm/sup 2/-s were investigated. Cesium metal which has been tagged with radioactive cesium-134 is introduced to a disk shaped control volume. The amount of cesium which adsorbs onto the two disk faces are monitored with a sodium iodide crystal gamma detector. The surface temperatures were controlled by an external furnace and the cesium pressure was controlled by varying the temperature of a connecting reservoir. Results were plotted as atom concentration versus reciprocal absolute temperature for various constant cesium arrival rates. The curves show similar behavior to the common theoretical predictions until 0.5 to 0.75 of a monolayer. At this point, the cesium adsorption increases rapidly to well over one monolayer. The cause of this rapid increase is hypothesized to be the formation of cesium oxide on the surfaces. 35 figures, 68 references (auth)
Research Organization:
Arizona State Univ., Tempe (USA)
OSTI ID:
7343640
Report Number(s):
TID-27053
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English