Steam chemical reactivity of Be pebbles and Be powder

This paper reports the results of chemical reactivity experiments for Be pebbles (2 and 0.2 mm diameter) and Be powder (14–31 μm diameter) exposed to steam at elevated temperatures, 350–900°C for pebbles and 400–500°C for powders. We measured BET specific surface areas of 0.12 m2/g for 2 mm pebbles, 0.24 m2/g for 0.2 mm pebbles and 0.66–1.21 m2/g for Be powder samples. These experiments showed a complex reactivity behavior for the material, dependent primarily on the test temperature. Average H2 generation rates for powder samples, based on measured BET surface areas, were in good agreement with previous measurements for fully dense consolidated powder metallurgy (CPM)-Be. Rates for the Be pebbles, based on measured BET surface areas, were systematically lower than the CPM-Be rates, possibly because of different surface and bulk features for the pebbles, especially surface layer impurities, that contribute to the measured BET surface area and influence the oxidation process at the material surface.