Room-temperature hydrides, properties

Table III. Properties of Selected Room Temperature Hydrides (2 ) (Based on 10 Atm-1 Atm Desorption at 25°C, As-Cast Condition)...

Above 40 wt % hydrogen content at room temperature, zirconium hydride is brittle, ie, has no tensile ductiHty, and it becomes more friable with increasing hydrogen content. This behavior and the reversibiHty of the hydride reaction are utilized ki preparing zirconium alloy powders for powder metallurgy purposes by the hydride—dehydride process. The mechanical and physical properties of zirconium hydride, and thek variation with hydrogen content of the hydride, are reviewed in Reference 127. 

In order to fully understand the electrochemical behaviour of AB, hydrides, a knowledge of their chemical properties is required. Van Vucht et al. [25] were the first to prepare LaNi5 hydride and it is arguably the most thoroughly investigated H—storage compound. It reacts rapidly with hydrogen at room temperature at a pressure of several atmospheres above the equilibrium plateau pressure. PC isotherms for this system are shown in Fig. 3. 

Hydrocarbons and hydrogen halides are omitted since they will be dealt with elsewhere.) The chemical properties of most of these hydrides are rather well known, but this cannot be asserted for their decomposition kinetics. Some of them are very stable (H20, HF, NH3) while others decompose easily at room temperature (TeH2, PbH4). A study of the homogeneous decomposition has only been undertaken for those elements inside the frame in the Table. The pyrolyses of the others have either been found to proceed heterogeneously or the kinetics is unknown. 

Titanium iron hydrides are among the materials which, at the present time, appear to have potential for practical applications as an energy-storage medium (7). The formation and properties of titanium iron hydride have been studied by Reilly and Wiswall (3), who found that the reaction proceeds in two steps as indicated by Reactions 5 and 6. Both hydrides have dissociation pressures above 1 atm at room temperature in contrast to TiH2 which is very stable. Titanium iron is representative of intermetallic compounds that consist of an element (titanium) capable of forming a stable hydride and another element (iron) that is not a hydride former or at best, forms a hydride with great difficulty. Iron presumably plays a role in destabilizing the hydrides. Titanium also forms a 1 1 compound with copper (there are other intermetallic compounds in the titanium-copper system) and this fact, coupled with the observation that copper... 

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