Hydrogen distribution in titanium materials with low outgassing property

This paper addresses a hydrogen outgassing mechanism in titanium materials with extremely low outgassing property by investigating hydrogen atoms distribution in depth around the surface in a titanium material and stainless steel. The evacuation time dependence of depth profiles of positive hydrogen ions was measured by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). In the stainless steel, concentration of hydrogen atoms decreases slowly at the surface oxide layer, while it decreases rapidly in the bulk by vacuum evacuation. Thus, the surface oxide layer is considered to prevent hydrogen diffusions in the bulk. On the other hand, in the titanium material, hydrogen atoms show maximum concentration at the boundary between the surface oxide layer and the bulk titanium. Moreover, concentration of hydrogen atoms decreases rapidly at the surface oxide layer, while those decrease slowly in the deep region below the surface-bulk boundary by vacuum evacuation. It is suggested that the boundary between the surface oxide layer and bulk titanium plays a role of a barrier for bulk hydrogen diffusions. These facts give very low hydrogen concentration near the surface, which results in an extremely low outgassing rate in titanium materials.