Technology Transfer Department

Application sectors

Problem to solve

Determining the transport properties of hydrogen isotopes in materials is of great importance in applications where tritium is present from both the safety (e.g., fission and fusion reactors) and fuel cycle (e.g., fusion reactor) perspectives.

Description

The system makes it possible to quantify the hydrogen flux permeating through the sample under test, which can be of various types of pure steel/metal, by injecting protium or deuterium into one side, called the high-pressure side, which is divided from the sample by the low-pressure side, where the measurement takes place. The measurement is made by pressure transducers and mass spectrometer and also allows determination of the hydrogen isotope transport properties (diffusivity, solubility, permeability) of the sample. The sample holder flange is made of tungsten, a material in which hydrogen isotopes solubilize in extremely low amounts, which allows for a reduction in the background of the measured signal between tests, also reducing the time between one test and the next. The facility allows the evaluation of the performance of tritium permeation barriers by evaluating the Permeation Reduction Factor, which is obtained from the ratio of the permeate flux in an uncoated sample to a coated sample.

Research group involved