Permeation of hydrogen through metals

Abstract

The theory of permeation of hydrogen through certain transition metals has been further developed. It has been shown that this theory, in which certain slow phase-boundary processes couple with diffusion to produce the permeation phenomena, can in rather simple ways predict the observed behaviour. In particular, 'threshold pressures' for permeation can be understood; and also permeation velocities which depend on the ingoing pressure, p ₁, according to p ₁ ⁿ where 0≤n≤l, and upon membrane thickness l according to l^m where -1 ≤ m≤0.