Discrete nature of nonmonotonic structural transformations in the Pd-Ta-H system in relaxation

By X-ray diffractometry a quasi-discrete relationship between the positions of peaks of diffraction reflection components and a diffraction angle on diffraction patterns of Pd—Та alloys in the state of relaxation after hydrogenation, which may be associated with a multivalley structure of a thermodynamic potential, was revealed. As a result, structural transformations in the course of degassing occur through transitions between long-lived metastable states corresponding to different minima of the multivalley structure.