Alloying Effects on Hydrogen Permeability of Niobium

Niobium metal is one of the promising material for hydrogen purification because of its high hydrogen permeability. In order to design and develop a new palladium-free hydrogen permeable membrane, it is important to understand the effects of alloying elements on the hydrogen permeability through metals. However, to the niobium metal, the alloying effects still remain unclear. In the present study, using a DC-polarization technique under the diffusion limiting condition, the hydrogen permeability of Nb-5mol%M alloys were investigated in high precision at 573K. Here, M’s were 4d transition metals, Zr, Mo, Ru and Pd. The permeability of niobium is found to be varied with the addition of a small amount of alloying element. For example, the hydrogen permeability of niobium increases by the addition of Zr but decreases by the addition of Ru.