Hydrogen permeation behavior of multifilamentary Cu-Nb superconducting composites

The hydrogen permeation behavior of Cu-15 vol.% Nb and Cu-20 vol.% Nb alloys which were developed originally for superconducting wires has been investigated. Both the alloys with a microstructure consisting of body-centered cubic Nb (bcc-Nb) filaments and a face-centered cubic Cu matrix exhibited a hydrogen permeability of ∼2 × 10−9 mol m−1 s−1 Pa−0.5 at 673 K. The samples tested are resistant to hydrogen embrittlement despite the fact that bcc-Nb is susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement. Our work demonstrates that Nb-based multifilamentary alloys are potential candidates for alloy membranes for hydrogen purification.