Hardfacing alloys provide strong, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant coatings for extreme environments such as those within nuclear reactors. Here, we report an ultra-high-strength Fe-Cr-Ni silicide phase, named π-ferrosilicide, within a hardfacing Fe-based alloy. Electron diffraction tomography has allowed the determination of the atomic structure of this phase. Nanohardness testing indicates that the π-ferrosilicide phase is up to 2.5 times harder than the surrounding austenite and ferrite phases. The compressive strength of the π-ferrosilicide phase is exceptionally high and does not yield despite loading in excess of 1.6 GPa. Such a high-strength silicide phase could not only provide a new type of strong, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant Fe-based coating, replacing more costly and hazardous Co-based alloys for nuclear applications, but also lead to the development of a new class of high-performance silicide-strengthened stainless steels, no longer reliant on carbon for strengthening.

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Institute of Physics Na Slovance 2 18040 Praha 8 Czech Republic

Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Jakob Welder Weg 11 55099 Mainz Germany

Interface Analysis Centre University of Bristol Bristol BS8 1TL UK

LENS MIND IN2UB Electronics and Biomedical Engineering Faculty of Physics University of Barcelona Martí i Franquès 1 11 08028 Barcelona Catalonia Spain

Rolls Royce plc Derby DE24 8BJ UK

School of Materials The University of Manchester Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL UK

Wood plc 601 Faraday Street Birchwood Park Warrington WA3 6GN UK

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3D Electron Diffraction: The Nanocrystallography Revolution