Aging Effects in Zr(Fe0.5V0.5)2 Tritides

Abstract

We report an experimental study on the tritiding capabilities over a long period of the intermetallic compound Zr(Fe0.5V0.5)2. The study was carried out with the prospect of using the alloy as a chemical converter to reduce HTO. Two identical getter beds, containing 1 gram of alloy in powder form each, were used in the experiments. While one of them was exploited to determine the tritium isotherms of the virgin alloy, the other bed was loaded at 75% of stoichiometry with 354 Ci of tritium and left to age for 1500 days. The bed was then unloaded and the isotherms of the aged alloy were determined twice to check the repeatability. The main results of the work are that, while enthalpy and entropy changes for tritium dissolution at infinite dilution are practically the same for the fresh alloy and the aged alloy, they vary significantly when the isotherms are determined on the aged alloy at a large enough distance of time (one week). This behavior is ascribed to the He3 present in the interstitial sites. However, the fact that the solubility of the alloy decreases with aging suggests that the He3 present either in the interstitial sites or in bubbles subtracts sites for dissolution. Also to be stressed is that in the tritide-forming region, these thermodynamic values decrease with aging in a monotonic way. This different behavior is tentatively explained by invoking the nature of the tritium bond.