The range of available data on separation factors (α) in the palladium−hydrogen/deuterium system has
been extended in this study using a thermal conductivity detector. The thermal conductivity detector
employed a matched pair of glass-coated bead thermistors to measure the gas-phase composition of
hydrogen isotope mixtures. Separation factors (α) were measured in the β-phase, over the temperature
(T) and hydrogen mole fraction (x
H) ranges T = 175 K to 389 K and x
H = 0.195 to 0.785, respectively.
These data were correlated with temperature (T) and hydrogen mole fraction in the palladium (x
H) by α
= exp[−0.27 + B(x
H)(1000/T)0.75] and B(x
H) = 0.5155 − 0.0569x
H − 0.12x
H
2, where B(x
H) is an empirical
function relating the dependence of the separation factor on composition.