We report on a structural investigation of the zirconium-based ternary alloy getter “St 707” (from SAES Getters, Milan, Italy) based onin situx-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements at high temperature in inert gas atmosphere accompanied by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) and thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) investigations. The XRD together with SEM-EDX confirms that the getter is biphasic before as well as after activation. Hexagonal Zr and the cubic Laves phaseZr(V1−xFex)2with a narrow compositional range (0.16⩽×⩽0.18) coexist in this material. Upon heating, thein situXRD shows a gradual decrease in the crystallinity of the Laves phase, which is attributed to its disintegration into small particles. DSC measurements under moist Ar exhibit an exothermic irreversible transition at≈675 K which is associated with chemical bulk reactions and indicative of the gettering process. The operation of the gettering process during activation was verified by TGA measurements. It is concluded that the gettering process is correlated with the disintegration of the Laves phase. The sorption kinetics of water vapor were studied at 355 K over a pressure range of101–102Pa using a barometric technique. A change in the rate determining step is detected from an initial diffusion-controlled step to surface adsorption after some sorption cycles.