Abstract
Niobium and its alloys are the candidate materials for fusion reactors and can be used at high-temperatures. This paper was intended to study embrittlement of niobium by high-concentrations of hydrogen and impurity segregation at grain boundaries. Specimens of commercial Nb were subjected to heat treatment at 1100°C and 500°C and subsequently charged with deuterium in an electrolytic cell. The charged specimens were placed into the high-vacuum chamber of a special self-made Auger electron spectrometer. They were then fractured under high-vacuum conditions and the chemistry of grain boundaries was analysed. Carbon and oxygen were found as the main impurities on the grain boundaries and effective energies for hydrogen–impurity-grain boundary interaction have been estimated. It was found that there is a noticeable reduction of fracture strength corresponding to the grain boundary oxygen and carbon segregation levels.
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