PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL INTERACTIONS OF ENERGETIC TRITIUM WITH BORON-CARBIDE

In order to investigate further the physical and chemical interactions of energetic hydrogen isotope species with ceramic materials, recoil tritium from the 3He(n, p)T reaction was allowed to react with boron carbide. The results demonstrate that if the boron carbide has been degassed and annealed at 1100°C prior to tritium bombardment, the tritium is rapidly released from the boron carbide as HT, CH3T, and HTO upon heating to 1000°C under vacuum. The retention of the tritium in the B4C matrix was found to be 56 and 19% upon heating at 600 and 1000°C, respectively. Samples which were exposed to H2O and H2 prior to tritium bombardment were heated at high temperatures after the irradiation. The results obtained indicate that upon H2O exposure 0.68 and 8.3% of the tritium are released in the form of HT and CH3T at 600 and 1000°C, respectively, whereas upon H2 exposure 2.4% of the tritium is relased at 1000°C. Treatment of degassed samples after tritium bombardment with H2O and H2 at temperatures to 1000°C results in the release of up to 19.7% of the tritium for H2O exposure and 33.8% upon H2 exposure. © 1979.