Effects of small amount of additional elements on control of interstitial impurities and mechanical properties of V-4Cr-4Ti-Si-Al-Y alloys

In order to improve the mechanical properties of low activation vanadium alloys for fusion structural applications, effects of small addition of Si, Al and Y on the control of interstitial impurities (O, C and N) during the fabrication process were examined for several V-4Cr-4Ti-Si-Al-Y alloys produced by the levitation melting method. Charpy impact tests and tensile tests were carried out for five kinds of V-4Cr-4Ti-Si-Al-Y alloys using miniaturized specimens for the purpose of evaluating the effects of these elements on mechanical properties. Oxygen concentration decreased almost linearly with increasing loss of yttrium during melting. This oxygen reduction with yttrium loss during the melting process may have been achieved by two types of mechanisms, they are, (i) suppression of oxygen penetration into the molten materials from the environment and (ii) getting of oxygen from the matrix by forming Y₂O₃, which floats to the surface during the melting. There was no effect of Si and Al addition to control the concentration of interstitial impurities. V-4Cr-4Ti-0.1Si-0.1Al-0.1Y alloy showed the best impact properties out of the alloys investigated. Upper-shelf energy of the alloys decreased with increasing yttrium content. High number density of coarse inclusions containing yttrium could cause the degradation of impact properties, though they hardly affect tensile properties of the alloys. Even at higher yttrium contents, V-4Cr-4Ti-Y alloys without addition of Si and Al showed relatively high upper-shelf energy.