Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
In an effort to better understand the structural changes occurring during hydrogen loading of erbium target materials, we have performed in situ D2 loading of erbium metal (powder) at temperature (450°C) with simultaneous neutron diffraction analysis. This experiment tracked the conversion of Er metal to the α erbium deuteride (solid-solution) phase and then into the β (fluorite) phase. Complete conversion to ErD2.0 was accomplished at 10 Torr D2 pressure with deuterium fully occupying the tetrahedral sites in the fluorite lattice.