Influence of substituting Ni with Co on hydriding and dehydriding kinetics of melt spun nanocrystalline and amorphous Mg2Ni-type alloys

In order to improve the hydriding and dehydriding kinetics of the Mg₂Ni-type alloys, Ni in the alloy is substituted by element Co. The nanocrystalline and amorphous Mg₂Ni-type Mg₂Ni_1−x Co _x (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) alloys were synthesized by melt-spinning technique. The structures of the as-cast and spun alloys were studied with an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a high resolution transmission electronic microscope (HRTEM). An investigation on the thermal stability of the as-spun alloys was carried out with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The hydrogen absorption and desorption kinetics of the alloys were measured with an automatically controlled Sieverts apparatus. The results demonstrate that the substitution of Co for Ni does not alter the major phase of Mg₂Ni but results in the formation of secondary phase MgCo₂. No amorphous phase is detected in the as-spun Co-free alloy, but a certain amount of amorphous phase is clearly found in the as-spun Co-containing alloys. The substitution of Co for Ni exerts a slight influence on the hydriding kinetics of the as-spun alloy. However, it dramatically enhances the dehydriding kinetics of the as-cast and spun alloys. As Co content (x) increases from 0 to 0.4, the hydrogen desorption capacity increases from 0.19% to 1.39% (mass fraction) in 20 min for the as-cast alloy, and from 0.89% to 2.18% (mass fraction) for the as-spun alloy (30 m/s).