As a hydrogen storage material, Zr2Fe alloy has many advantages such as fast hydrogen absorption speed, high tritium recovery efficiency, strong anti-pulverization ability, and difficulty self-igniting in air. Zr2Fe alloy has lower hydrogen absorption pressure at room temperature than LaNi5 alloy. Compared with the ZrVFe alloy, the hydrogen release temperature of Zr2Fe is lower so that the material can recover hydrogen isotopes at lower hydrogen concentration efficiently. Unfortunately, the main problem of Zr2Fe alloy in application is that a disproportionation reaction is easy to occur after hydrogen absorption at high temperature. At present, there is little research on the generation and influencing factors of a disproportionation reaction in Zr2Fe alloy. In this paper, the effects of temperature and hydrogen pressure on the disproportionation of Zr2Fe alloy were studied systematically. The specific activation conditions and experimental parameters for reducing alloy disproportionation are given, which provide a reference for the specific application of Zr2Fe alloy.
Keywords: Zr2Fe; activation; disproportionation; hydrogen isotope.