Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Hydrogen permeance of palladium-copper alloy membranes over a wide range of temperatures and pressures

Journal Article · · Journal of Membrane Science

The permeance of Pd–Cu alloys containing 40, 53, 60, and 80 wt.% Pd has been determined over the 623–1173K temperature range for H2 partial pressure differences as great as 2.6MPa. Pure palladium and copper membranes were also evaluated. The Pd–Cu alloys exhibited predictable permeances that reflected the crystalline phase structures as shown in the binary phase diagram. Under conditions of face-centered-cubic (fcc) stability, the permeance increased steadily with palladium content, approaching the permeance of pure palladium membranes. The 53 and 60 wt.% Pd alloys were evaluated at temperatures within the body-centered-cubic (bcc) stability region. For both alloys, the bcc permeance was several times greater than the fcc permeance with the 60 wt.% Pd bcc permeance at 623K reaching about 70% of the permeance of palladium. These bcc alloys were subjected to temperature increases during testing that resulted in transition from bcc to fcc, followed by temperature decreases that should revert the alloys to bcc. The permeances dropped abruptly during the transition from bcc to fcc. However, on cooling back to the bcc stability region, neither the 60 nor 53 wt.% Pd alloy completely regained a bcc permeance during the test period. All of the Pd–Cu alloys subjected to testing at 1173K showed some permeance decline that was attributed to intermetallic diffusion between the membrane and support. The application of a diffusion barrier between the support and membrane foil in a 53 wt.% Pd permeance test successfully blocked the intermetallic diffusion and prevented degredation of the membrane’s performance.

Research Organization:
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE - Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
OSTI ID:
925831
Report Number(s):
DOE/NETL-IR-2005-005
Journal Information:
Journal of Membrane Science, Journal Name: Journal of Membrane Science Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 241; ISSN 0376-7388
Publisher:
Elsevier B.V.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Effect of hydrogen-sulfide on the hydrogen permeance of palladium–copper alloys at elevated temperatures
Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Membrane Science · OSTI ID:925832

High pressure hydrogen permeance of porous stainless steel coated with a thin palladium film via electroless plating
Journal Article · Sun Nov 14 23:00:00 EST 2004 · Journal of Membrane Science · OSTI ID:925829

The Influence of Copper Concentration on the Permeability of Pd-Cu Alloy Membranes
Conference · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · OSTI ID:938806