Niobium carbide – Nickel-niobium alloy composites from a nickel coated powder: Microstructural development during sintering

• DOI: 10.1016/j.oceram.2021.100096
• Publication Date: 2021-04-03T00:14:00Z
• Authors: Sarmad Naim Katea; Cheuk-Wai Tai; Petter Ström; Per-Olof Larsson; Hilmar Vidarsson; Gunnar Westin
• Keywords: Niobium carbide

The sintering of a 14 ​wt% nickel nano-dot coated NbC powder was investigated using dilatometry in combination with XRD, ToF-ERDA, PIXE, SEM-EDS/EBSD/TKD, and TEM-HAADF/EDS/EELS for analysis samples heated to 1375, 1405 1500 ​°C, 30 ​min annealing. main step at 1110–1375 succeeded by slower step, centred before the final smaller densification ​°C. grain-growth took place on heating ​°C ​min; from ca. 0.5–5 ​μm (average 1 ​μm) 1375 5–30 10 ​min. NbC0.91-0.94 phase showed micro-hardness 1700–2300 HV0.05. binder consisted unprecedented textured c-Nb0.15Ni0.85 h-Nb0.2Ni0.8 phases. Nb–Ni yielded values 1150–1250 (1375–1405 ​°C) 810 HV0.05 (1500 ​min), which greatly exceeds is higher than Fe3Al.