Synthesis of Mg-Al Alloys by Bulk Mechanical Alloying (BMA) and Their Hydrogen Solubility

Abstract

In this work, the Mg₁₇Al₁₂ phase was successfully synthesized by the Bulk Mechanical Alloying (BMA), based on repeating compression and extrusion cycles in a metallic die. After 2000 cycles of compression and extrusion, nano-structural Mg₁₇Al₁₂ phase was obtained in molded bulk shape.
X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses were carried out to determine the morphology, phase structure of BMA-ed samples.
The qualitative and quantitative analysis of phase abundance, evolution of microstructure and distribution of particles size were studied.
It was shown that the Mg₁₇Al₁₂ alloy is able to absorb a large amount of hydrogen, higher than 3 mass% of Hydrogen.