Ultrahigh-temperature tensile creep of TiC-reinforced Mo-Si-B-based alloy

In this study, the ultrahigh-temperature tensile creep behaviour of a TiC-reinforced Mo-Si-B-based alloy was investigated in the temperature range of 1400–1600 °C at constant true stress. The tests were performed in a stress range of 100–300 MPa for 400 h under vacuum, and creep rupture data were rationalized with Larson-Miller and Monkman-Grant plots. Interestingly, the MoSiBTiC alloy displayed excellent creep strength with relatively reasonable creep parameters in the ultrahigh-temperature range: a rupture time of ~400 h at 1400 °C under 137 MPa with a stress exponent (n) of 3 and an apparent activation energy of creep (Q(app)) of 550 kJ/mol. The increasing rupture strains with decreasing stresses (up to 70%) and moderate strain-rate oscillations in the creep curves suggest that two mechanisms contribute to the creep: phase boundary sliding between the hard T(2) and (Ti,Mo)C phases and the Mo(ss) phase, and dynamic recovery and recrystallization in Mo(ss), observed with orientation imaging scanning electron microscopy. The results presented here represent the first full analysis of creep for the MoSiBTiC alloy in an ultrahigh-temperature range. They indicate that the high-temperature mechanical properties of this material under vacuum are promising.