Abstract
Micro-grained thin foils made of Ni3Al intermetallic alloy were fabricated, according to a previously described procedure, and tested as catalyst for decomposition of cyclohexane. The conversion efficiency of the catalyst was evaluated in a synthetic air atmosphere, and found to be as high as 98.7% ± 1.0% at 600 °C and 86.7% ± 3.6% at 500 °C. During the reaction, the growth of carbon nanofibers on the catalysts surface was observed. The chemical and phase composition of the nanofibers was investigated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), finding them to be made of graphitic carbon. Additionally, nanoparticles of nickel appear to be incorporated in the fibers. The obtained material is promising for large scale fabrication in industrial applications because of its high efficiency in the hydrocarbon decomposition, the simple fabrication procedure, and the form of self-supporting foils with the presence of additional carbon nanofibers that increase its efficiency.
Highlights
IntroductionIntermetallic Ni3Al-based alloys are a group of advanced materials which show potential outstanding physical and chemical properties, such as excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance, fairly high melting temperatures, relatively low densities and anomalous strengthening with increasing temperature.Extensive efforts have been made to develop Ni3Al-based alloys into commercial use as high-temperature structural material in a bulk form, e.g., as-cast ingots, bars, plates, tubes, etc. [1,2,3,4].Thin foils made of Ni3Al intermetallic alloy can be used in high-performance applications in the form of honeycomb structures, which have the advantage of being lightweight and showing high-stiffness and catalytic properties [4,5,6,7]
The present paper focuses on the catalytic decomposition of cyclohexane on Ni3Al intermetallic alloy thin foils
Increasing the temperature above that level leads to growing efficiency of cyclohexane decomposition in the empty reactor up to 61.1% ± 1.0%, a level comparable to the highest conversion obtained for decomposition reaction conducted on quartz
Summary
Intermetallic Ni3Al-based alloys are a group of advanced materials which show potential outstanding physical and chemical properties, such as excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance, fairly high melting temperatures, relatively low densities and anomalous strengthening with increasing temperature.Extensive efforts have been made to develop Ni3Al-based alloys into commercial use as high-temperature structural material in a bulk form, e.g., as-cast ingots, bars, plates, tubes, etc. [1,2,3,4].Thin foils made of Ni3Al intermetallic alloy can be used in high-performance applications in the form of honeycomb structures, which have the advantage of being lightweight and showing high-stiffness and catalytic properties [4,5,6,7]. Extensive efforts have been made to develop Ni3Al-based alloys into commercial use as high-temperature structural material in a bulk form, e.g., as-cast ingots, bars, plates, tubes, etc. A cold-rolling based approach was set up which allows to obtain micro- or nano-structured Ni3Al intermetallic foils as thin as 50 μm thickness [8]. Another method to obtain similar thin foils-only with microcrystalline structure-was reported by Hirano et al [9,10], who rolled the directionally solidified ingots at room temperature.
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