First Hydrogenation of TiFe with Addition of 20 wt.% Ti

In this paper, we report the first hydrogenation (activation) of a 1.2Ti-0.8Fe alloy synthesized by induction melting (9 kg ingot). The alloy presented a three-phase structure composed of a main TiFe phase, a secondary Ti2Fe phase and a Ti-rich BCC phase. The alloy required cold rolling to achieve activation at room temperature. However, it did so with good kinetics, reaching saturation (2.6 wt.% H) in about 6 h. After activation, the phases identified were TiFe, Ti2FeHx and an FCC phase. The Ti2FeHx and FCC are the stable hydrides formed by the secondary Ti2Fe and BCC phases, respectively. The stoichiometry of the Ti2FeHx was calculated to be between x = 3.2–4.75. As the microstructure obtained by an industrial-scale synthesis method (induction melting) may be different than the one obtained by laboratory-scale method (arc melting), a small 3 g sample of Ti1.2Fe0.8 was synthesized by arc melting. The lab-scale sample activated (2 wt.% H in ~12 h) without the need for cold rolling. The phases identified for the lab-scale sample matched those found for the induction-melted sample. The phase fractions differed between the samples; the lab-scale sample presented a lower abundance and a finer distribution of the secondary phases. This explains the difference in the kinetics and H capacity. Based on these results it can be concluded that the alloy of composition, 1.2Ti-0.8Fe, can absorb hydrogen without the need for a heat treatment, and that finer microstructures have a strong influence on the activation kinetics regardless of the secondary phases’ phase fractions.