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. © 2008 The Japan Institute of Metals.