Phase components in Zr7Ni10 and Hf7Ni10 binary alloys; investigations by perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy and first principles calculations

TL;DR

This study combines PAC spectroscopy, XRD, TEM, and first-principles calculations to analyze phase components and their temperature dependence in Zr7Ni10 and Hf7Ni10 alloys, revealing phase stability and transformations relevant for hydrogen storage applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive experimental and theoretical analysis of phase components and their temperature evolution in Zr7Ni10 and Hf7Ni10 alloys, supporting their structural characterization.

Findings

Zr7Ni10 has a dominant Zr2Ni7 phase (~38%) at room temperature.

Hf7Ni10 shows a dominant HfNi3 phase (~62%) at high temperature.

Phase fractions change reversibly with temperature in both alloys.

Abstract

Intermetallic compounds Zr7Ni10 and Hf7Ni10 have been studied by perturbed angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy considering the fact that Zr7Ni10 has application as hydrogen storage material in fuel cell. In stoichiometric Zr7Ni10, the phase Zr2Ni7 is found to be dominant (~38%) while a fraction of ~25% is found for the Zr7Ni10 phase at room temperature. In this compound, a phase due to Zr8Ni21 (~10%) is found from room temperature up to 773 K but, this is not found at 873 K and above. In the stoichiometric Hf7Ni10 sample, the phase due to Hf7Ni10 is found as a minor phase (~22%) at room temperature. In this system, no phase of Hf2Ni7 is observed but, a different phase due to HfNi3 is found to be dominant (~62%). It is found that the site fraction of Hf7Ni10 enhances with temperature at the expense of HfNi3 and this phase becomes predominant (~57%) at 673 K and above. The change of phase fractions of HfNi3 and Hf7Ni10 with temperature is found to be reversible. The phase components in Zr7Ni10 and Hf7Ni10 have been determined also from X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy/selected area electron diffraction (TEM/SAED) measurements. Ab-initio calculations using the all electron full potential (linearized) augmented plane wave [FP-(L)APW] method, within the framework of the density functional theory (DFT), have been performed to determine the electric field gradients at the 181Ta impurity sites and therefrom to assign the different components observed from PAC measurements. Present experimental and calculated results of EFG support the Cmca space group for both Zr7Ni10 and Hf7Ni10 compounds.