A high performance hydrogen storage alloy V-16 mass%Ti-12 mass%Ni-1.4 mass%Nb-0.96 mass%Co-2.8 mass%Ta is sensitively influenced by dissolved aluminum and oxygen, both of which are reduced by unproductive refining process. Then, it was necessary to develop the process of simply removing these impurities at a reasonable cost. Then, we propose a new production technique. A V-15 mass%Ni-1.8 mass%Nb precursor with a low enough level of aluminum was produced by aluminothermic reduction of the mixture V2O5, Nb2O5 and nickel.
When the V-16 mass%Ti-12 mass%Ni-1.4 mass%Nb-0.96 mass%Co-2.8 mass%Ta alloy was obtained by alloying the precursor and the other constituents of titanium, cobalt and tantalum, it was deoxidized to a low enough level by adding mischmetal as a reducing agent.
By the method described here, the vanadium-based alloy can be produced at a reasonable cost.
