>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Transition metals are a group of metals which are light in weight and have high hydrogen solubility. Their interaction with hydrogen is exorthermic and this phenomenon makes them “ideal” candidates for various applications of hydrogen storage systems. This explains why the phenomenon of hydrogen storage in Pd is used as a model for hydrogen storage systems because of the nature of absorption associated with it (like a sponge even at low temperatures). The hydrogenation process can be conducted at either room or high temperatures in a furnace under low pressure-low hydrogen gas concentration-short hydrogenation time (LP-LC-ST) and in intelligent gravimetric analyser under high pressurehigh hydrogen gas concentration-long hydrogenation time conditions. Most of the research on hydrogen storage sytems is based on gravimetric analysis of absorbed and desorbed hydrogen concentration. In this work, a comparison study of the hydrogen content in pure Pd, Pd-Pt coated systems, Pd-Pt alloys, commercially pure Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloy determined by gravimetric methods and elastic recoil detection analysis (which is based on the detection of recoiled hydrogen after interaction with He+ ions) technique was investigated. The changes in the structural properties and the hydrogen content of the materials when exposed to a hydrogen gas environment for different durations at various system temperatures and pressures will be reported. These changes have an effect on the microstructure of CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloy and structural properties of all the hydrogenated materials. The results obtained from optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, intelligent gravimetric analyser, digital balance, elastic recoil detection analysis and Vickers hardness test, show the following: it is found that hydrogenation of Pd at elevated temperatures (550 ˚C and 650 ˚C) does not yield hydrides under LP-LC-ST conditions. However, at room temperature the absorption of hydrogen occurred faster at the beginning of the process. Furthermore, the absorption of hydrogen increased with pressure where optimum absorption (0.67 wt. % hydrogen concentration) occurred under a system pressure of 2000 mbar. After pressure release, the remaining hydrogen content in the Pd sample was 0.6 wt. %. The Pd-Pt coated system provide hydrogen mobility at 550 and 650 ˚C where hydrides were formed under LP-LC-ST conditions. In addition to the decrease of hydrogen solubility in Pd-Pt alloys with an increase in Pt content, the probability of the alloys to achieve full saturation also decreases with an increase in Pt content under HP-HC-LT conditions. CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloy absorb substantial amount of hydrogen in the first hour of room temperature hydrogenation under LP-LC-ST conditions but hydrides were not formed. Therefore, under LP-LC-ST conditions at room temperature, Pd is able to store hydrogen in the form of hydrides whereas Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloy could not. The 550 ˚C is the optimum temperature for hydrogenation of CP-Ti under LP-LC-ST conditions. The Ti- 6Al-4V alloy absorb optimum hydrogen at 650 ˚C under LP-LC-ST conditions. Consequently, the change of microhardness of CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloy was found to depend on hydrogenation temperature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/4430 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Ngwanakgagane, Sentsho Zelda |
| Contributors | Topic, M., Arendse, Christopher J. |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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