The nuclear magnetic resonance method was used to study diffusion in ZrHx, where x ranged from 1.588 to 1.960 and the structure could be cubic or tetragonal. It was found that the activation energy was essentially independent of the H content of cubic samples (table 336). The pre-exponential factor was equal to 22.5(2-x) x 1012Hz. In the case of the tetragonal phases, the activation energy increased slightly with H content. It was deduced that a very fast channel, for about 3% of the H atoms, was created by the tetragonality. These atomic jumps were associated with a pre-exponential factor which was some 2 orders of magnitude greater than that for the remainder of the H atoms.

C.Korn, S.D.Goren: Physical Review B, 1986, 33[1], 68-78

 

Table 336

Activation Energies for H Diffusion in ZrHx

 

x

Structure

E (kcal/mol)

1.588

cubic

13.45

1.629

cubic

13.44

1.684

cubic

13.40

1.736

tetragonal

13.5

1.816

tetragonal

13.7

1.910

tetragonal

14.3

1.960

tetragonal

14.7