Preparation of Hydrogen Storage Alloys from the Oxides by Calcium Co-Reduction in Molten CaCl2

A new process is studied to synthesize the hydrogen storage alloy directly from its oxide mixture. This method is operated in the molten CaCl2 and it combines the calcium co-reduction and the in situ dissolution of the by-product CaO. The binary alloy consisting of 30 mol% Ti-70 mol% V and the intermetallic compound of TiCr2 were chosen as the examples. The well-homogenized Ti-V alloy and α-TiCr2 were obtained from the mechanical mixture of refractive V2O3 and TiO2, and of Cr2O3 and TiO2, respectively. The molten CaCl2 was needed in both cases to dissolve CaO for complete reaction. The obtained alloy powders showed the hydrogen storage after the activation.