Machine learning guided optimal composition selection of niobium alloys for high temperature applications

Nickel and Cobalt based superalloys are commonly used as turbine materials for high-temperature applications. However, their maximum operating temperature is limited to about 1100oC. Therefore, to improve turbine efficiency, current research is focused on designing materials that can withstand higher temperatures. Niobium-based alloys can be considered as promising candidates because of their exceptional properties at elevated temperatures. The conventional approach to alloy design relies on phase diagrams and structure-property data of limited alloys and extrapolates this information into the unexplored compositional space. In the present work, we harness machine learning and provide a design strategy for finding an Nb-based alloy composition with optimized yield strength and ultimate tensile strength at high temperatures. We use a Bayesian optimization algorithm combined with domain knowledge-based material descriptors to find an optimal Nb-based quaternary and quinary alloy composition for the targeted value of mechanical strengths. Furthermore, we extend our study to multi-objective optimization to suggest an optimal alloy candidate by integrating yield strength and ultimate tensile strength into a single composite property. We developed a detailed design flow and python programming code, which could be helpful for accelerating alloy design in a limited alloy data regime.