Hydrogen absorption properties of a Zr–Al alloy ball-milled with Ni powder

The preparation of the Zr 84 wt%–Al 16 wt% non-evaporable getter alloy by means of mechanical alloying and its hydrogen absorption characteristics were investigated. Scanning electron micorscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis revealed that the mechanical ball-milling with Ni was successfully employed to coated nickel particles on the surfaces of the Zr–Al getter alloy. The resulting composite particles with pure nickel on the surface of the Zr–Al getter compound show good gettering performance and fast sorption kinetics without any activation process.