Absorption of hydrogen by palladium–copper alloys. Part 1.—Experimental measurements

Pressure against composition isotherms, and changes in the relative electrical resistance with hydrogen content, have been determined over the temperature range 303–373 K, for the absorption of hydrogen by palladium alloys containing 5, 10, 15 and 20 atom % copper. For each alloy, the relative resistance increases continuosly with hydrogen content. The pressure against composition isotherms all lie inside the isotherm for palladium, and the solubility at 1 atmosphere decreases continuously with increasing copper content. There is a marked hysteresis between the absorption and desorption data, both for the relative resistance relationships and for the pressure against composition isotherms.α-Phase absorption data, over the temperature range 423–573 K have also been obtained, and it is found that the solubility, at any reference pressure decreases with copper content.