Reports - DOD Medical Joint Cross - Service Group - Military Value Report - April 26, 2005

Lithium hydride is a nuclear material with a great affinity for moisture. As a result of exposure to water vapor during machining, transportation, storage and assembly, a corrosion layer (oxide and/or hydroxide) always forms on the surface of lithium hydride resulting in the release of hydrogen gas. Thermodynamically, lithium hydride, lithium oxide and lithium hydroxide are all stable. However, lithium hydroxides formed near the lithium hydride substrate (interface hydroxide) and near the sample/vacuum interface (surface hydroxide) are much less thermally stable than their bulk counterpart. In a dry environment, the interface/surface hydroxides slowly degenerate over many years/decades at room temperature into lithium oxide, releasing water vapor and ultimately hydrogen gas through reaction of the water vapor with the lithium hydride substrate. This outgassing can potentially cause metal hydriding and/or compatibility issues elsewhere in the device. In this chapter, the morphology and the chemistry of the corrosion layer grown on lithium hydride (and in some cases, its isotopic cousin, lithium deuteride) as a result of exposure to moisture are investigated. The hydrogen outgassing processes associated with the formation and subsequent degeneration of this corrosion layer are described. Experimental techniques to measure the hydrogen outgassing kinetics from lithium hydride and methods employing …