Nb-Si based alloys have drawn continuously increasing attention due to their
excellent high-temperature mechanical properties. The addition of element Fe
could improve their poor high-temperature oxidation resistance which largely
restricts their applications. With the aim to study the effect of Fe
addition on the Nb-Si system and to design appropriate alloy composition,
the Fe-Nb-Si ternary system has been thermodynamically investigated using
the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) approach aided with the
formation enthalpies for ternary compounds at 0 K computed via ab initio
calculations. A self-consistent thermodynamic description of the Fe-Nb-Si
system was obtained in this work. Key isothermal sections and liquidus
projection were presented, and the calculation results show a good agreement
with available experimental data.