Hydrogen Storage and Electrochemical Properties of Cast Vanadium Based Alloys for Automotive Batteries

Casting tests for V₃TiNi_0.56 and V₃TiNi_0.56Y_0.1Co_0.1 alloys used in automobile batteries were carried out,and the hydrogen storage performance,electrochemical property and microstructure of the alloys were tested and analyzed.The results show that compared with V₃TiNi_0.56 alloy,the maximum hydrogen absorption capacity of V₃TiNi_0.56Y_0.1Co_0.1 alloy increases from 3.13% to 3.88%,and the retention rate of discharge capacity of V₃TiNi_0.56Y_0.1Co_0.1 alloy increases from 23% to 91% after 20 times of charge-discharge cycles.The dendritic arm of V₃TiNi_0.56Y_0.1Co_0.1 alloy is refined,and the interval for dendritic crystals of V₃TiNi_0.56Y_0.1Co_0.1 alloy is decreased,with the hydrogen storage and electrochemical properties of the alloy improved significantly.The addition of Y and Co as alloying elements can improve the hydrogen storage and electrochemical cycling stability of V₃TiNi_0.56 alloy applied to automobile batteries.