Hydrogen re-emission data analysis in austenitic stainless steel

A diffusion analysis computer code HRF-1 was developed and the re-emission rate was computed for various diffusion constants. The computed re-emission rate was fitted to the experimental data and the effective diffusion constant was obtained neglecting the trapping and recombination process. The effective diffusion constant in high temperature was smaller than the diffusion constant obtained in the other experiments suggesting the hydrogen transport in stainless steel in high temperature is recombination limited. On the other hand, the effective diffusion constant in low temperature was larger than the diffusion constant extrapolated from the high temperature result, suggesting that a tunneling effect in low temperature is a major hydrogen transport process. In addition to the above analysis, the recombination constant in high temperature was computed as a function of the material temperature. (author)