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Hydrogen Isotopes permeation barriers (HIPB) are used to reduce hydrogen isotopes permeation and leakage in the fields such as thermonuclear fusion energy, hydrogen energy, petroleum industry and vacuum solar receiver. In this study, nano-crystalline Er 2 O 3 HIPB with about 5–10 nm grain size were made by sol-gel method. Their performances, including deuterium-permeation reduction factor (D-PRF), micro-structure, mechanical property and electrical property were reported. The D-PRF of 0.2 μm nano-crystalline Er 2 O 3 HIPB reached 300 at 700 °C and did not deteriorate after 128 h deuterium permeation. The bonding strength and the nano-hardness steadily remained about 13 N and 10 GPa after 128 h deuterium permeation at 700 °C, respectively. The morphology and micro-structures of the nano-crystalline Er 2 O 3 HIPB showed no measurable changes after 128 h deuterium permeation, which ensured the stable D-PRF and mechanical properties. However, the electrical resistivity of the nano-crystalline Er 2 O 3 HIPB decreased after deuterium permeation at 700 °C. The electrical resistivity decreased from 9 × 10 9 Ω cm by over three orders of magnitude and then tended to be stable, which might be attributed to oxygen loss or deuterium invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Composite coatings as Hydrogen Isotopes Permeation Barriers have seldom been studied. In this work, the Al 2 O 3 –Er 2 O 3 component composite HIPB were prepared on 316L stainless steel by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering. The deuterium permeation reduction factor (D-PRF), structure and nano-hardness of the Al 2 O 3 –Er 2 O 3 composite HIPB were investigated. The Er 4 Al 2 O 9 (012), (023) diffraction peaks appeared. The D-PRF of 1.2 μm Al 2 O 3 –Er 2 O 3 composite HIPB could reach 160 at 600 °C, the D-PRF was 210 at 450 °C and increased sharply to 1380 at 250 °C. The coatings kept dense during the deuterium permeation tests while the Er 4 Al 2 O 9 phases changed. The nano-hardness decreased from 9.55 GPa to 7.46 GPa after the deuterium permeation tests. It was inferred that the deuterium atoms invasion and formation of oxygen vacancies should be responsible for the performance and structure changes of the Al 2 O 3 –Er 2 O 3 composite HIPB during deuterium permeation tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen isotope permeation barriers (HIPB) have great potential applications in the fields of hydrogen energy and thermonuclear fusion. In this study, the AlN-HIPB were prepared on 316 L stainless steel by RF magnetron sputtering. The properties of AlN-HIPB were studied, including the deuterium permeation reduced factor (D-PRF), structures and nano-hardness. The D-PRF of 0.4 μm AlN-HIPB could reach 36 at 600 °C, and gradually rise with decreasing permeation temperature. The D-PRF reached 53 at 400 °C and 144 at 250 °C, respectively. The coatings remained dense and the grains were spherical after the deuterium permeation test. The AlN (1 0 0) diffraction peaks appeared and maintained stable during the deuterium permeation process. The nano-hardness of the coatings increased from 5.96 GPa to 7.41 GPa and the elasticity modulus also increased from 156.6 GPa to 210.6 GPa after the deuterium permeation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]