Abstract:
Hydrogen-induced-amorphization is prevalent in rare earth AB
2-type alloys. La
1-xY
xMg Ni
3.8Al
0.2(
x=0-0.4) alloys were refined using a vacuum induction melting furnace, and the phase structure, microstructure and hydrogen sto rage properties of the alloys were tested and analyzed using XRD, SEM and P-C-T hydrogen storage tester. The results show that the alloy consists mainly of LaMgNi
4 and La(NiAl)
5 phases, with an additional Ni
3Y phase appearing when
x≥0.1. The alloys after hydrogenation consist of LaMgNi
4H
4.85and La
0.91(Ni Al)
5H
4.43phases, with a small amount of YH
2 phase occurring in the Y-containing alloy. The as-cast alloys are acicular structure and become more homogeneous and refined as the amount of Y substitution increases. Y substitution significantly improves the activation properties of the alloys. The maximum hydrogen uptake of the alloys with
x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 at 313 K temperature and 3 MPa hydrogen pressure are 1.663 wt%, 1.656 wt%,1.63 2 wt%, 1.635 wt%, and 1.641 wt%, respectively. The alloy with
x=0.1 has the best kinetics with 1 min hydrogen uptake reaching 85.2% of the maximum hydrogen uptake. The Δ
H of the alloy increases with increase of Y content. The alloy with
x=0.3 has the best cycling performance with capacity retention of 81.67% after 50 cycles.