Nondestructive Analysis for Trace Amounts of Hydrogen

Abstract

A method is described and demonstrated for a nondestructive determination of the hydrogen content inside materials in sheet form by measurement of the energy‐loss distribution from proton‐proton scattering events. The method is absolutely specific for hydrogen, and has a sensitivity of 1 ppm (atomic), or better. Materials analyzed (with ppm of hydrogen in parentheses) were: Ti (4200), Zr (5000), Al (20), Fe (∼ 10), C (13000), and Teflon (220). In the titanium and zirconium samples, the hydrogen content drops off near the surfaces. The method also detects oil or moisture on surfaces for thicknesses down to about 1 Å; all materials studied had such surface films several hundred Å thick.