Design of Silicide-Strengthened Nb–Si–Cr–(Mo) alloys for additive manufacturing

Three high–intermetallic volume Nb–Si–Cr–(Mo) alloys were designed using CALPHAD modeling with the goal of identifying high–specific strength, oxidation-resistant alloys that can be additively manufactured using powder bed fusion. The silicides Nb5Si3 and Nb9Si2Cr3 were targeted as the primary stren...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alice Perrin, Patxi Fernandez-Zelaia, Chris Ledford, Yan-Ru Lin, Ellen Berry, Ryan Dehoff, Michael Kirka, Ying Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Materials & Design
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026412752500036X
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Three high–intermetallic volume Nb–Si–Cr–(Mo) alloys were designed using CALPHAD modeling with the goal of identifying high–specific strength, oxidation-resistant alloys that can be additively manufactured using powder bed fusion. The silicides Nb5Si3 and Nb9Si2Cr3 were targeted as the primary strengthening phases, and the addition of Cr promoted the NbCr2 phase. These alloys were cast and surface-processed with electron beam welding at different speeds to simulate additive manufacturing, and the phases and microstructures of both cast and welded regions were characterized. The weld processing was found to produce fine-grained microstructures in each alloy with fine-scale intermetallics uniformly distributed among a body-centered cubic Nb matrix. Microstructural refinement and hardness were found to increase with weld velocity; one alloy reached its highest hardness of approximately 16 GPa before the brittleness at higher velocities became detrimental. One alloy was found to be qualitatively the least brittle while also attaining a hardness of 13 GPa and was therefore identified as a good candidate for additive manufacturing.
ISSN:0264-1275