Coating Reactions on Vanadium and V-Si-B Alloys during Powder Pack-Cementation

Alloys in the V-Si-B system are a new and promising class of light-weight refractory metal materials for high temperature applications. Presently, the main attention is focused on three-phase alloy compositions that consist of a vanadium solid solution phase and the two intermetallic phases V3Si and V5SiB2. Similar to other refractory metal alloys, a major drawback is the poor oxidation resistance. In this study, initial pack-cementation experiments were performed on commercially available pure vanadium and a three-phase alloy V-9Si-5B to achieve an oxidation protection for this new type of high temperature material. This advance in oxidation resistance now enables the attractive mechanical properties of V-Si-B alloys to be used for high temperature structural applications.