Effect of Gallium on microstructure and mechanical properties of Nb–Si eutectic alloy

In this paper, we report a significant improvement in mechanical properties of near eutectic Nb–Si alloys by addition of Gallium (Ga) and control of microstructural length scale. A comparative study of two alloys Nb-18.79 at.%Si and Nb-20.2 at.%Si–2.7 at.%Ga were carried out. The microstructure refinements were carried out by vacuum suction casting in water cooled thick copper mold. It is shown that addition of Ga suppresses Nb3Si phase and promotes β-Nb5Si3 phase. The microstructural length scale and in particular eutectic spacing reduces significantly to 50–100 nm in suction cast ternary alloys. Compression test shows a strength of 2.8 ± 0.1 GPa and plasticity of 4.3 ± 0.03%. In comparison, the binary Nb-18.79 at.%Si alloy processed under identical conditions exhibit coarser length scale (300–400 nm) and brittle behavior. The fracture toughness of Ga containing suction cast alloy shows a value of 24.11 ± 0.5 MPa√m representing a major improvement for bulk Nb–Si eutectic alloy.