Although hydrogen is released from metal hydrides at rates which increase with increasing temperature– the fallacy of a few of these calculations is that the release is also pressure dependent; and thus the release will slow or stop at high pressure. Therefore the release is self-regulating.
Jack could be closer to the mark in suggesting that the failure was due to thermal stress. In fact, this type of failure could happen with only a few bar of pressure. If the failure was only pressure-related, it would happen near the middle of the cavity, which is the region of least structural strength against internal pressure - but since the failure (apparently) happened at almost exactly the place where the temperature gradient would be maximized – that explanation seems to fit the circumstances. From: Jack Cole I wonder to what extent the temperature gradient could have been a factor in the failure with one end of the tube being much cooler (the part that is outside of the heating element with the compression fitting on it). Perhaps this would reduce the amount of pressure the alumina could contain? Mark Jurich wrote: I believe there maybe an error in this pressure estimate
