Liquidus Projection of the Cr-Nb-V System

Abstract Phase equilibria in the Cr-Nb-V system have an important role in the development of new materials for future aerospace applications. However, the available data on this system remains limited. Therefore, this work proposes, for the first time, a liquidus projection based on the microstructural characterization of as-cast alloys. A total of twenty-seven alloys were produced and their microstructures characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the phase morphology, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and x-ray diffractometry (XRD) for phase identification. The results show a predominant primary precipitation of the BCC phase, along with two distinct regions of primary precipitation of intermetallic phases. One of these is the Laves C15 phase, originating from the Cr-Nb binary system, while the other is a phase that was identified as Φ which transforms into C15 during cooling to room temperature.