Looking for breakthrough ideas for innovation challenges? Try Patsnap Eureka!

Hydrogen-permeable alloy, and hydrogen-permeable film and its production method

a technology of hydrogen-permeable alloys and production methods, applied in metal-working apparatus, electrical equipment,foundry moulds, etc., can solve the problems of brittle intermetallic compounds, brittle alloy bodies, and inability to meet all future fuel cell demand, and achieve the effect of reducing the oxygen content of alloys

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-04-15
HITACHI METALS LTD
View PDF1 Cites 6 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a hydrogen-permeable Nb—Ti—Ni alloy having a sufficiently low oxygen content to have excellent hydrogen permeability and hydrogen embrittlement resistance and improved rollability, a hydrogen-permeable apparatus formed by such Nb—Ti—Ni alloy, and a method for producing a hydrogen-permeable film.DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
[0009]With the oxygen content of 1000 ppm or less, the cast alloy body has Vickers hardness of 270 HV or less and good rollability.
[0016]To reduce an oxygen content in the alloy, the heat treatment of the cast alloy body is conducted preferably in a hydrogen atmosphere.

Problems solved by technology

However, this method generates impurity gases such as CO, CO2, H2O, etc. in addition to hydrogen.
However, because the Pd—Ag alloy films disadvantageously contain expensive, rare Pd, it is expected that they cannot be supplied to meet all future demand of fuel cells.
However, because the Nb—Ti—Ni alloy contains Nb and Ti extremely reactable with oxygen, brittle intermetallic compounds are likely formed by incorporating oxygen from an atmosphere in its mass-production method, in which it is cast in a large furnace, and heat-treated and rolled to a thin plate.
Also, the intermetallic compounds make cast alloy bodies brittle depending on their compositions.
It has been found, however, that mere melting in vacuum fails to provide Nb—Ti—Ni alloys with such a low oxygen content as to be suitable for hydrogen-permeable alloys.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Hydrogen-permeable alloy, and hydrogen-permeable film and its production method
  • Hydrogen-permeable alloy, and hydrogen-permeable film and its production method
  • Hydrogen-permeable alloy, and hydrogen-permeable film and its production method

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0045]As alloy materials, pure Nb metal (oxygen content: 10 ppm), pure Ti metal (oxygen content: 140 ppm) and pure Ni metal (oxygen content: 40 ppm) were mixed to a composition of Ni30Nb40Ti30 (atomic %), and metal Ca as a deoxidizer was added to the mixture in an amount of 200 ppm based on the alloy materials. The resultant mixture was charged into a first water-cooled copper crucible in a vacuum arc-melting apparatus. Metal Ti as a getter material for removing oxygen from an atmosphere was charged into a second water-cooled copper crucible in the vacuum arc-melting apparatus. The amount of the getter material was 70% by mass based on the alloy materials.

[0046]After reducing the pressure of the atmosphere in the vacuum arc-melting apparatus to 4.0×10−3 Pa, an Ar gas was introduced, and evacuation was conducted again to 4.0×10−3 Pa. Thereafter, an Ar gas (purity: 99.99%) at 40 kPa was introduced into the apparatus. The getter material was arc-melted to absorb an oxygen gas in the at...

example 2

[0047]A cast Nb—Ti—Ni alloy body was produced from Nb metal (oxygen content: 20 ppm), Ti metal (oxygen content: 250 ppm) and Ni metal (oxygen content: 40 ppm) as alloy materials, in the same manner as in Example 1 except for changing the amount of the getter material to 60% by mass, and the vacuum degree in the vacuum arc-melting apparatus to 5.0×10−3 Pa.

example 3

[0048]A cast Nb—Ti—Ni alloy body was produced from Nb metal (oxygen content: 40 ppm), Ti metal (oxygen content: 250 ppm) and Ni metal (oxygen content: 60 ppm) as alloy materials, in the same manner as in Example 1 except for changing the amount of the getter material to 50% by mass, and the vacuum degree in the vacuum arc-melting apparatus to 5.0×10−3 Pa.

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
Vickers hardnessaaaaaaaaaa
particle sizeaaaaaaaaaa
thicknessaaaaaaaaaa
Login to View More

Abstract

A hydrogen-permeable Nb—Ti—Ni alloy having a composition represented by Nb100-x-yTixNiy, wherein 10≦x≦60, and 10≦y≦50 by atomic %, with an oxygen content of 1000 ppm or less in an as-cast state, which comprises (a) a hydrogen-permeable primary phase containing 70 atomic % or more of Nb and 10 atomic % or less of Ni, and (b) a eutectic phase having a particle phase comprising Nb and Ti as main components with a small Ni content and having an average particle size of about 5 μm or less, which is dispersed in a matrix phase comprising 60 atomic % or more in total of Ni and Ti and having hydrogen embrittlement resistance, the alloy having a structure substantially free from an intermetallic compound phase.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a hydrogen-permeable alloy having high hydrogen permeability and hydrogen embrittlement resistance and good rollability, a hydrogen-permeable film formed by the hydrogen-permeable alloy, and its production method.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Hydrogen used for fuel cells is at present produced by reforming methane, methanol, etc. However, this method generates impurity gases such as CO, CO2, H2O, etc. in addition to hydrogen. Among them, CO deactivates fuel cell electrodes. Therefore, impurity gases should be removed from hydrogen produced by reforming methods. Known as a method for easily purifying hydrogen is a separation method using a hydrogen-permeable metal film. Hydrogen-permeable films practically used at present are Pd—Ag alloy films. However, because the Pd—Ag alloy films disadvantageously contain expensive, rare Pd, it is expected that they cannot be supplied to meet all future demand of fuel cells. According...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C22C14/00C22C27/02C22C19/03B22D21/00B22D23/00
CPCB01D53/228Y02E60/50B01D67/0074B01D69/02B01D71/022B01D2256/16B01D2325/20B01D2325/24C01B3/503C22C1/06C22C19/03C22C27/02C22C30/00C22F1/00C22F1/18H01M4/94B01D67/0039
Inventor YAMAMURA, KAZUHIROTOBISE, MASAHIROUEHARA, TOSHIHIROTOJI, AKIHIRO
Owner HITACHI METALS LTD
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Patsnap Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Patsnap Eureka Blog
Learn More
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic, Popular Technical Reports.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap|About US| Contact US: help@patsnap.com