Studies on hydrogen diffusivity in iron aluminides using the Devanathan–Stachurski method Original Research Article

An electrolytic method for cathodic hydrogen saturation developed by Devanathan and Stachurski was successfully used to study hydrogen diffusivity in iron aluminides. Both an appropriate electrolyte and a saturating current density are required for this method. A proper form of the saturation curve was only obtained with 35% NaCl electrolyte, which removed the oxide film blocking hydrogen penetration without further corrosive destruction of the iron aluminide. The optimum saturation current density for determining the most reliable diffusivity was 1.91 A/cm2, yielding Deff,H = 4.81 × 10−6 cm2/s for Fe–40 at.% Al.