Cost-Effective Method for Producing Self Supported Palladium Alloy Membranes for Use in Efficient Production of Coal Derived Hydrogen Quarterly Technical Progress Report: September 2003-September 2005 (open access)

Cost-Effective Method for Producing Self Supported Palladium Alloy Membranes for Use in Efficient Production of Coal Derived Hydrogen Quarterly Technical Progress Report: September 2003-September 2005

During the last quarter, new procedures were developed and implemented to improve reliability and repeatability of release characteristics from the temporary substrate (i.e., silicon wafer) and to minimize through-thickness defects in a 6-inch diameter film, 3 microns in thickness. With the new procedures, we have been able to consistently produce essentially stress free films, with zero or minimal defects (less than 5) across a 6-inch diameter area. (It is important to note that for those films containing pinholes, a procedure has been developed to repair the pinholes to form a gas tight seal). The films are all within the identified tolerance range for composition (i.e., 60 {+-} 0.2 % Pd). A number of these films have subsequently been shipped to IdaTech for evaluation and integration into their test module. Colorado School of Mines continued their high temperature evaluation of 6 micron thick, sputtered Pd-Cu films. Pure hydrogen permeability increased up to 400 C while the membrane was in the {beta}-phase and dropped once the temperature increased to over 450 C. Above this temperature, as confirmed by the binary phase diagram, the film transforms into either a mixed {alpha}/{beta} or pure {alpha} phase. The same trend was observed for a baseline …
Date: October 28, 2005
Creator: Lanning, B. & Arps, J.
System: The UNT Digital Library