Influence of Severe Plastic Deformation and some Additives on Hydrogenation of ZK60 Alloy

Abstract Using ZK60 commercial magnesium alloy as hydrogen storage material, the effects of equal channel angular extrusion (ECAP) passes and different weight percentages of additives (activated carbon, vanadium and titanium) on hydrogen absorption characteristics were studied. ECAPed ZK60 with additives was prepared by high-energy ball milling for 20 h .The rate of hydrogenation was measured at different temperatures for five cycles using a Sievert's apparatus. The results reveal that hydrogen absorption increased to 5.3 wt% after 12 passes of ECAP in monolithic ZK60. The 12-pass ECAPed ZK60 along with the addition of 5 wt% activated carbon, and 2 wt% vanadium has improved hydrogenation to 6.7 wt% at 350 °C. The hydrogen absorption capacity is increased after each cycle for most ECAPed ZK60 samples, except that doped with 10 wt% activated carbon and 2 wt% titanium in which hydrogen absorption capacity is significantly reduced from 5.6 wt% to 3.2 wt% after the first cycle at 300°C .