• Advances in materials Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.17-28
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• 2018

Niobium is a candidate base for new alloys devoted to applications at especially elevated temperatures. Elaborating and shaping niobium-based alloys by conventional foundry may lead to mechanically interesting microstructures. In this work a series of charges constituted of pure elements were subjected to high frequency induction melting in cold crucible to try obtaining cast highly refractory Nb-xCr and Nb-xCr-0.4 wt.%Calloys(x=27, 34 and 37 wt.%). Melting and solidification were successfully achieved. The as-cast microstructures of the obtained alloys were characterized by electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction and their hardness were specified by Vickers macro-indentation. The obtained as-cast microstructures are composed of a body centered cubic (bcc) niobium dendritic matrix and of an interdendritic eutectic compound involving the bcc Nb phase and a $NbCr_2$ Laves phase. The obtained alloys are hard to cut and particularly brittle at room temperature. Hardness is of a high level (higher than 600Hv) and is directly driven by the chromium content or the amount of {bcc Nb - $NbCr_2$} eutectic compound. Adding 0.4 wt.% of carbon did not lead to carbides but tends to increase hardness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.359-360
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• 2017

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.226-226
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• 1998

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2008

This paper describes the experiments of the corrosion and the sliding tests of the nickel-based alloys for the gate valve seating materials used at high pressure and temperature. The general corrosion rates and IGC susceptibility are tested in pressurized water at 533 K and 575 K and in Strauss test solution. The sliding tests have been done in pressurized water at 293 k, 473 K and 573 k. The alloys containing above 10% chromium may have the anti-corrosion properties that could be applied to the valve seats for the power plants. The good sliding performance and the good pressure tightness are obtained when the disc specimens that have hardness 500 to 600 Hv combined with the seat specimens that have hardness 250 to 410 Hv containing about 40 percent of iron. The large size gate valves sliding tests have certified the test results. The anti-wear properties of the seat alloy and the anti-IGC susceptibility of the disc alloy could be improved by the addition of silicon and niobium, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.188-194
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• 1999

To investigate the effect of niobium and tin on the mechanical properties of zirconium alloys, the tensile test and the microstructural analysis were performed on the Zr-based binary(Zr-xNb, Zr-xSn) and ternary(Zr-0.8Sn-xNb, Zr-0.4Nb-xSn) alloys. As the content of Nb or Sn element increased, the strengths of the Zr-based alloys tended to gradually increase. The increase of mechanical strength was remarkable strength was remarkable in the range more than the solubility of Nb and Sn. The strengthening effects were discussed on the basis of the solid solution hardening, the precipitate hardening, the grain size effect, and the texture effect. The mechanical strength is mainly controlled by the solid solution hardening and additionally by the precipitate hardening in the content more than solubility limit of Nb and Sn. The grain refinement also has a slight effect on the strength of the zirconium alloys with the addition of Nb and Sn. However, the texture effect can be excluded due to the same Kearns number regardless of the content of alloying elements.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.50-54
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• 2017

The microstructure, the crystallization behavior, and magnetic properties of FeSi-based soft magnetic alloys (FINEMET) were investigated using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and coercive force measurements. The amorphous $Fe_{73.28}Si_{13.43}B_{8.72}Cu_{0.94}Nb_{3.63}$ alloys particles, prepared in $10^{-4}$ torr by gas atomization process, were heat treated at $530^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$, and $670^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour in a vacuum of $10^{-2}$ torr. Nanocrystalline Fe precipitation was first formed followed by the grain growth. Phase formation and crystallite sizes was compared linked to its magnetic behavior, which showed that excellent soft magnetic property can directly be correlated with its microstructure.