The Use of Low‐Cost Commercial Hydrogen Sensors for Thermal Desorption Research

The corrosion of metallic materials under anoxic deep geological repository (DGR) conditions inevitably results in the evolution of hydrogen. From a research perspective, this hydrogen provides an approach to understanding the uniform corrosion rates of materials as well as the inventory of hydrogen that can accumulate within the repository. The corroding metals themselves are hydrogen sinks; thus, it is important to understand how much hydrogen is absorbed as a function of concentration, pH and temperature. For metallic packages that will contain highly hazardous nuclear waste, potential changes to mechanical properties due to hydrogen absorption must be understood. For experimental work supporting the safety of DGR science, absorption or desorption of hydrogen can impact the corrosion rate calculations, complicating safety assessments. To address these issues, a thermal desorption analyser has been developed to characterise materials used in corrosion experiments. The analyser is simple to construct and operate and yields excellent sensitivity using a commercially‐available hydrogen sensor. This article describes the design and capabilities of this analyser.