Effects of potential, temperature and pH on hydrogen absorption and thermal desorption behaviors of Ni-Ti superelastic alloy in 0.9% NaCl solution

The effects of electrochemical potential, solution temperature and pH on the hydrogen absorption and desorption behaviors of Ni-Ti superelastic alloy immersed in 0.9% NaCl solution for 2 h have been investigated systematically by hydrogen thermal desorption analysis. For hydrogen cathodic charging under constant applied potential, upon increasing solution temperature, the critical potential for the hydrogen absorption very slightly shifts to a noble direction. As solution pH decreases, the critical potential for the hydrogen absorption shifts markedly to a noble direction and approaches to the corrosion potential; the critical current density for the hydrogen absorption slightly decreases. At a less noble potential than the critical potential for the hydrogen absorption, the amount of absorbed hydrogen increases markedly with decreasing applied potential. For hydrogen cathodic charging under constant current density, the amount of absorbed hydrogen increases with increasing solution temperature and decreasing solution pH. The basic hydrogen desorption behavior only slightly depends on solution temperature or pH. Nevertheless, hydrogen desorption at low temperatures for specimens subjected to cathodic charging under constant current density is observed distinctly as compared with that under constant applied potential.