Deuterium adsorption on water preadsorbed uranium-niobium alloys

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2002

OSTI ID:976472

Jachimowski, T A ^[1]; Paffett, M T ^[2]; Kelly, D ^[3]; Hanrahan, R J ^[4]

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1. Thomas Alan
2. Mark T.
3. Daniel
4. Robert J.

We have investigated the adsorptiodreaction of deuterium on water pre-adsorbed oxidized uranium-niobium alloys at pressures near 1 Torr. Deuterium exposures were conducted at pressures from 1 to 4 Torr at surface temperatures between 300 and 600 K using a fixed dosing time of 30 seconds. Water is preadsorbed at room temperature at a pressure of {approx} 1 Torr for 30 seconds. Subsequent to gaseous exposure the surface temperature of the alloy was increased in a controlled manner and deuterium desorption was monitored using mass spectroscopy. Deuterium is observed to adsorb both at the surface and in the bulk of the uranium-niobium alloys. Water preadsorption prevents deuterium adsorption on all surfaces. The water forms a surface passivation layer at low temperatures that prevents deuterium uptake into the bulk and surface of the sample. As the adsorption temperature of the deuterium increases the amount of deuterium that adsorbs also increases.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• OSTI ID: 976472
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-02-7426
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ADSORPTION
ALLOYS
DESORPTION
DEUTERIUM
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
NIOBIUM
PASSIVATION
URANIUM
WATER