The effects of nickel content on the properties of the polycrystalline Ir 85 Nb 15 refractory superalloy were studied. To examine the possibility of replacing Ir with Ni in Ir 85-X Nb 15 Ni X , we varied the nickel content from 0 to 50 at. pct. The yield strength of the Ir 75 Nb 15 Ni 10 alloy was 2150 MPa at room temperature, much greater than that of the binary Ir 85 Nb 15 alloy, and 728 MPa at 1473 K, similar to that of the binary alloy. The fracture mode of an Ir 85-X Nb 15 Ni X alloy changed from predominantly intergranular in fcc and L1 2 two-phase Ir 85 Nb 15 to transgranular in the two-phase Ir 75 Nb 15 Ni 10 alloy and a mixture of intergranular and transgranular in the other tested alloys when the Ni content exceeded 20 pct. The Ni addition also increased the compression ductility for Ni content up to 50 at. pct. The maximum compression ductility was approximately 13 pct, obtained from Ir 65 Nb 15 Ni 20 . Ir 85-X Nb 15 Ni X two-phase refractory superalloys with X Յ 10 were superior to the binary Ir 85 Nb 15 alloy as an ultrahigh-temperature structural material in terms of strength, fracture behavior, and density.