On the hydrogenation mechanism in magnesium I

The first time hydriding of spherical magnesium particles covered by a thin oxide layer and sieve-fractionated into narrow size distributions within the range 40–90 μm was followed by microgravimetry. The size distributions of the fractions were determined by semiautomatic image analysis. The hydridings were run at 402°C and 3 MPa hydrogen pressure after heating in helium. A dependence of the rate of hydriding on the heat treatment prior to reaction was observed and it is proposed that the heat treatment causes oxygen atoms to diffuse into the bulk metal and thereby break up the protective oxide layer. Based on the observed hydride propagation in the metal particles, a statistical model for the hydriding of a particle is applied to the hydriding curves for a series of samples. The data are found to be in fine agreement with the proposed model. It is concluded that care must be taken when generalizing results from the hydriding of magnesium powders.