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Are large concentration of atomic H storable in tritium-impregnated solid in H2 below 0.10 KThe storage and release of atomic hydrogen produced by the beta decay of tritium contained in a crystalline solid H2 matrix at concentrations greater than 2% and temperatures below 0.80 K are investigated. The temperature of a sample chamber containing tritium-impregnated H2 and placed in the mixing chamber of a dilution refrigerator was measured as the chamber was heated and cooled in order to determine the rates of energy storage and release. It is found that for samples containing 1.2 wt.% tritium, after storage at 0.054 K for 40 h, an increase in sample temperature to a trigger point of 0.17 K leads to an energy release due to the destabilization of atomic H in H2 as predicted by the phenomenological rate process theory. For a tritium weight fraction of 2.5%, energy releases were triggered at 0.54 and 0.82 K after storage at 0.080 K, indicating the trapping of H atoms at the sites of T2 and HT molecules in the sample. The application of a 15 kG magnetic field is shown to increase the storage capacity of T2 traps while reducing that of HT traps, and to lower the trigger temperatures of both. Results suggest that the direct conversion of nuclear energy to chemical energy may become technically feasible in the future.
Document ID
19800034558
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Rosen, G.
(Drexel University Philadelphia, Pa., United States)
Webeler, R. W. H.
(Iowa, University Iowa City, Iowa, United States)
Date Acquired
August 10, 2013
Publication Date
December 22, 1979
Subject Category
Atomic And Molecular Physics
Accession Number
80A18728
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSG-7491
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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