Method of discriminating equilibrium characteristics of hydrogen absorbing alloys

A method of producing a hydrogen absorbing alloy having desired equilibrium characteristics of a plateau region of the hydrogen absorbing alloy between a hydrogen solid solution region (.alpha. phase region) thereof and a metal hydride region (.beta. phase region) thereof, comprising the steps of:

• (a) producing a hydrogen absorbing alloy;
• (b) measuring the equilibrium hydrogen pressure and hydrogen content of the plateau region of the alloy;
• (c) expressing the plateau region by a cumulative distribution function wherein the hydrogen content is taken as frequency and the equilibrium hydrogen pressure or a function thereof is taken as a random variable and determining a plurality of parameters defining the cumulative distribution function by numerical analysis of measured data as to the equilibrium hydrogen pressure and the hydrogen content;
• (d) outputting the determined parameters;
• (e) producing another alloy based on the determined parameters and repeating steps (b)-(d);
• and
• (f) optionally repeating step (e) until a hydrogen absorbing alloy having the desired equilibrium characteristics of the plateau region is obtained.