Abstract
To investigate the behavior of hydrogen uptake and release by 316 stainless steel (SS316), as-received and finely polished stainless steel specimens were exposed at 573 K to tritium gas diluted with hydrogen. Then tritium concentration in the exposed specimens was measured as a function of depth using a chemical etching method. All the tritium concentration profiles showed a sharp drop in the range of 10 μm from the top surface up to the bulk. The amount of tritium absorbed into the polished specimens was three times larger than that into the as-received specimen. However, the polishing effects disappeared by exposing to the air for a long time.
