Dependence of strain rate and environment on the mechanical properties of the Ni-19Si-3Nb-1Cr-0.2B intermetallic alloy at high temperature

The results of atmosphere-controlled tensile test in various conditions (with different strain rate at different temperature under vacuum, air, or water vapor atmosphere) revealed that the addition of boron and chromium would improve the elongation as well as ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the Ni-19Si-3Nb based alloys over a wide range of temperature under air and water vapor atmosphere. The UTS and elongation can reach to 1270 MPa and 14%, respectively at 873K in each kind of atmosphere. On contrary, the alloy without boron addition only presents ductile mechanical behavior in vacuum. This is evident that boron and Cr elements present positive effect on suppressing the environmental embrittlement in air and water vapor atmosphere from room temperature to 1073 K for the Ni-19Si-3Nb base alloy. In addition, both of UTS and elongation present quite insensitive on the strain rate when test at the temperature below 973 K. However, the UTS exhibits very dependent on the strain rate when test temperature above 973 K, decreasing the ultimate tensile strength with decreasing strain rate.