Published February 1993 | Version v1
Journal article

Strength and toughness of a Nb/Nb5Si3 composite

  • 1. UES, Inc., Dayton, OH (United States)
  • 2. WL/MLLM, Wright-Patterson, OH (United States)

Description

Recent studies have shown that within the Nb-Si system, the two-phase Nb/Nb5Si3 microstructures exhibit excellent thermochemical stability and resistance to coarsening up to 1500 C. In addition, these Nb/Nb5Si3 'in situ composites' exhibit a good balance in mechanical properties, having a reasonably high strength up to 1500 C and high fracture toughness at room temperature. These combined properties of the composites provide an attractive basis for developing high-temperature structural materials. Studies are currently underway on creep mechanisms and alloying to enhance the oxidation resistance of these composites. Most of the published results on this system pertain to the wrought Nb-10 at. pct Si alloy in which the large primary Nb particles provide toughening while the intermetallic Nb5Si3 phase in the eutectoid microconstituent provides high-temperature strength. The present work was undertaken to determine the strength and toughness of a wrought alloy with near-eutectic composition, Nb-1.65 at. pct Si, at temperatures from 25 C to 1500 C. The increased Si content is known to decrease the volume fraction of the primary Nb particles and increase the overall volume fraction of the Nb5Si3 intermetallic phase

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Metallurgical Transactions. A, Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science
Journal Volume
24
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. 501-504.
ISSN
0360-2133
CODEN
MTTABN