NMR study of hydrogen diffusion in zirconium hydride

The nuclear-magnetic-resonance method was used to study the diffusion of hydrogen in zirconium hydride by measuring the temperature dependence of T1 in a temperature range where the major relaxation mechanism was due to hydrogen diffusion. The samples investigated were ZrH1.588, ZrH1.629, ZrH1.684, ZrH1.736, ZrH1.815, ZrH1.910, and ZrH1.960. These spanned both the cubic and tetragonal phases. The activation energy was found to be independent of hydrogen concentration in the cubic phase with Ea=13.40.4 kcal/mol and a preexponential factor given by A=(1/2)(2-x)(4510)×1012 Hz. In the tetragonal phase the activation energy of the bulk of the hydrogen increased modestly with concentration. In addition, it was discovered that a new very fast hydrogen channel was created by the tetragonality for 3% of the hydrogen. They jump with a preexponential factor that is about 2 orders of magnitude larger than that of the rest of the hydrogen. A comparison was also made between the Bloembergen-Purcell-Pound, the Barton-Sholl, and the Bustard theories for nuclear magnetic relaxation due to diffusion.