Influence of Microstructure on the Absorption of Tritium into Gold-Plated 316 Stainless Steel

The interaction of tritium with metal surfaces is the initial step in the overall absorption of tritium by the substrate metal. As a result, limiting the adsorption of tritium to the surface may effectively reduce the quantity of tritium absorbed by a metal when it is in contact with tritium gas. To limit tritium adsorption, many tritium users electroplate gold onto the substrate metal. The gold layer is expected to reduce tritium adsorption, and subsequently absorption, by reducing water adsorption.

The present work shows a comparison between tritium inventories in nonplated 316 stainless steel to the inventories in 316 stainless steel samples electroplated with gold by various commercial vendors and laboratories. Of the various gold-plated samples, only one type of plating shows ~25% reduction in tritium inventory, relative to nonplated steel samples. The degree of tritium absorption appears to be significantly influenced by the porosity, texture, and completeness of the gold layer. Incomplete and/or porous layers lead to increased absorption, while gold layers with smaller surface features lead to similar tritium inventories as nonplated samples. Reduced tritium absorption was observed only for complete gold layers with small surface features.