Corrosion of copper by water under oxygen-free conditions

Hydrogen evolution by copper in water without any dissolved oxygen was monitored via pressure increase experiments. The studies were complemented with hydrogen thermal analysis and gas mass spectrometry. Experiments were made using OFHC (oxygen-free) copper foil samples in a two-chamber cell system, with the chambers separated by a palladium foil to act as a membrane. The test solution used was ultrapure water at 60 °C. The hydrogen content in the Pd foil increased by a factor of 2-10 (by hydrogen thermal desorption) in two experiments. In parallel experiments at Studsvik Nuclear AB using duplicate test equipment, a hydrogen concentration about 10 000 times higher than in the air was measured in the upper compartment abovethe palladium membrane after exposure using mass spectrometry.