Solubility and Distribution of Tritium in Annealed and Cold Worked 304 Stainless Steel in the 100 to 300 C Temperature Range

The solubility of tritium in annealed and cold worked 304 stainless steel in the temperature range 100 to 300 C (212 to 572 F) was determined by equilibration of sheet specimens with a tritium-containing gaseous atmosphere. It was found that the solubility is unaffected by cold work in this temperature range. A series of autoradiographs which were made of a cold worked specimen which was equilibrated at 300 C showed that the tritium is distributed homogeneously throughtout the microstructure at 300 C but that partitioning of the tritium between the regions of low and high defect concentration in the cold worked microstructure takes place at ambient temperature.