Investigations on niobium under simulated purge gas atmospheres

Automatic translation: In the MOPS A3 and MOPS A4 experiments, damage occurred to the control gas and purge gas tubes in the upper capsule, which led to the experiments being terminated. As a result of this pronounced damage, the question was raised as to the possible reaction products that could arise here during reactions of the niobium with the impurities of the He control gas. For this purpose, corresponding simulation tests were carried out in a real purge gas atmosphere at 1000°C and a holding time of 120 hours. The detailed metallographic evaluation was supplemented by investigations using a microprobe.