Hydrogen storage and materials laboratories, UQTR

Higher education and research

Public university focused on teaching and research across engineering, energy, and materials science, among other fields.

Industrial producer of engineered metal powders and R&D center within GKN Powder Metallurgy.

The Ti0.488Fe0.460Mn0.052 alloy is a TiFe-based intermetallic material engineered for reversible hydrogen storage, produced here by gas atomization to obtain a fine powder microstructure that supports improved first hydrogenation kinetics and capacity after mechanical activation.[1][2] It belongs to the class of interstitial metal hydrides, where hydrogen atoms occupy lattice sites in the TiFe matrix and associated secondary phases, enabling absorption of about 1.5–2 wt.% hydrogen under moderate conditions depending on processing.[2]

Gas atomization is an industrial powder production process in which a stream of molten alloy is disintegrated by high-pressure gas jets into fine droplets that rapidly solidify into spherical particles, producing powders with very fine and often homogeneous microstructures.[2] In this research, gas atomization is used to synthesize the Ti0.488Fe0.460Mn0.052 TiFe-based alloy powder, enabling control over particle size, cooling rate, and microstructural refinement to tailor hydrogen storage properties.[1][2]

TiFe-based intermetallic hydrides are a class of AB-type alloys where titanium and iron form a host lattice that can reversibly absorb hydrogen to form TiFeH2-type hydrides, offering moderate hydrogen capacity and favorable operating conditions for storage technologies.[2] They are interstitial hydrides in which hydrogen occupies tetrahedral or octahedral lattice sites, and their performance is sensitive to alloying additions (such as Mn and Zr), microstructure, and surface oxidation state.[2]

Trois-Rivières, Quebec

An academic–industrial research project between UQTR and GKN Hoeganaes investigating the microstructure, first hydrogenation behavior, activation energy, and mechanical activation routes for a gas-atomized Ti0.488Fe0.460Mn0.052 hydrogen storage alloy.