Improvement of room temperature fracture toughness in Cr₂Nb-based alloys by heat treatment

Abstract

The microstructure and room temperature fracture toughness of binary Cr/Cr₂Nb alloys annealed at 1653 K for 30 h were investigated at both the hypo- and hypereutectic compositions. The experimental results indicate that the high temperature heat treatment has a beneficial effect on the room temperature fracture toughness of the Cr₂Nb/Cr alloys. After the heat treatment, the room temperature fracture toughness of the hypo- and hypereutectic alloys are increased by about 212 and 203%, which are 15 and 8 times higher than that of as-cast Cr₂Nb Laves phase (1·2 MPa m^1/2). The fractographic analysis indicates that in the annealed condition, the strengthen of lamellar eutectic cohesive strength can provide significant toughening of the matrix by crack deflection, crack blunting and crack bridging mechanisms.

Keywords:

• Laves phase
• Heat treatment
• Fracture toughness

Acknowledgement

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 50971101, 51074127 and 51104120), and the Qualified Personnel Foundation of Taiyuan University of Technology (tyut-rc201421a, tyut-rc201397a).