Production of multicomponent alloys for hydrogen storage by gas shielded arc melting: A solution for production scale-up

Abstract

Green hydrogen is a potential energetic vector capable of storing and spreading energy from a variety number of renewable sources. Nonetheless, the storage and transportation of large amounts of hydrogen is a huge technological challenge to be overcome. Hydrogen storage in multicomponent alloys (MCAs) that can form multicomponent metal hydrides (MCMHs) has been investigated, since the vast compositional field of the MCAs allows the design of alloys and MCMHs with optimized properties for each specific application. In recent years, the LH2M group at DEMa/UFSCar has been working on the development of design methods and new MCAs and MCMHs with optimized properties for storage tank applications at room temperature and moderated pressures. Some alloys with promising properties have already been developed, such as Ti22V22Nb22Cr35, Ti11V30Nb28Cr31, Ti16Zr16Cr16Mn16Fe16Ni16 e Ti17Zr17Cr22Mn22Fe22. However, these alloys were developed and produced by the electric arc furnace melting process with controlled atmosphere (vacuum and inert gas), being a process of difficult scalability. Since these alloys will need to be produced in large production volumes (tons) for tank applications, this PhD project proposes an alternative route for the production of these alloys through the noun-consumable, gas shielded arc-melting process, herein referred to as GSAM, which, if automatized, has the potential to allow mass production of several small ingots (10 g to 30 g) with metallurgical characteristics and properties quite similar to those obtained in laboratorial scale studies. Through the proposed process, it would be possible to expand production to the tons/month level just by creating a production line.