THE INFLUENCE OF HYDROGEN CONTAMINATION ON THE AMORPHIZATION REACTION OF CUTI ALLOYS

Neutron diffraction experiments have been made on amorphous Cu(x)Ti1-x alloys prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) over a wide composition range, 0.75 > x > 0.30. An unexpected result has emerged because the neutron diffraction patterns are exceptionally sensitive to hydrogen contamination in the samples. A comparison between a series of CuTi amorphous alloys contaminated with hydrogen and a similar series that were hydrogen-free shows that in titanium-rich alloys the hydrogen appears to act as a catalyst for the amorphisation reaction and in its absence the reaction is inhibited.