Effect of Zr and Ti on isothermal oxidation behavior of Nb–Si based alloys

The isothermal oxidation behavior of 56Nb-16Si-(20-x)Ti–3Cr–3Al-2Hf-xZr (x ?= ?0, 2, 5, 10 ?at. %) alloys was investigated at 800 ?°C and 1250 ?°C, respectively. The results show that increasing the Zr content evidently increased the oxidation rates at 800 ?°C, accompanied by the obvious occurrence of pesting oxidation. The alloys showed alike linear oxidation kinetics at 1250 ?°C. With the increase of Zr content, the adherence and integrity of oxide scales were improved, but the overall oxidation resistance was slightly deteriorated. The observed oxidation behavior may be attributed to the composition variation of Zr and Ti in the alloys. The oxidation mechanism associated with the composition variation is discussed in this study.