Monitoring the Changes in Titanium Defect Structure during Titanium Hydrogen Saturation

Abstract

Hydrogen saturated samples of technically pure titanium have been studied by the electron-positron annihilation method (EPA), coupled with the thermoelectric power measurements performed in these samples saturated by different amount of hydrogen. The structure of the hydrogenated samples was additionally investigated by X-ray diffraction. The complete coincidence of the moment of occurrence of a change in the structure of hydrogenated titanium depending on the amount of introduced hydrogen has been established. The intensity of positron annihilation drops with increasing hydrogen concentration in α-titanium to 0.04 wt % and then remains unchanged up to values of 0.05 wt % ($\alpha + \delta$) -titanium to increases afterwards. At the same time, a sharp change in the values of the thermoelectric power occurs in this range. In the region of 0.05%, the annihilation rate stabilizes and begins to increase, while the thermoelectric power begins to decrease slowly. The inflection point on the dependence of thermoelectric power on hydrogen concentration corresponds to the onset of the formation of titanium $\delta$-hydrides. An increase in the positron lifetime is observed in the concentration range of 0.05–0.08 wt %, then the lifetime stays stable up to concentrations of 0.08–0.12 wt %. A transition from ($\alpha + \beta$) to ($\alpha + \delta$) phase is formed in this range. Next, the positron lifetime increases, as does the number of defects, while the thermoelectric power gradually drops (to a concentration of 0.24 wt %). This is followed by a stabilization mode of all the above parameters to 0.35 wt %.