Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Multi-component AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 High-Entropy Alloys

doi:10.1007/s40195-020-01085-1

Abstract

Abstract:

A series of Al_xCrFe₂Ni₂Mo_0.2 alloy consisting of FCC + BCC phases have been designed, and their as-cast microstructures and mechanical properties were also investigated with x ranging from 0.6 to 0.9. It was found that with the addition of Al element, the solidified structures changed from dendrite to columnar crystal then back to dendrite again. Moreover, the increased amount of BCC phase resulted in finer and more uniform microstructures of FCC [FeCrNi(Mo)] and BCC (Al-Ni) phases. Tensile yield strength and hardness of alloys showed a similar increasing trend as the volume fraction of BCC phase increased. Both strain hardening rate and strain hardening exponent were calculated to assess the tensile properties of the alloys. It was shown that Al_0.6CrFe₂Ni₂Mo_0.2 exhibited the most excellent and comprehensive mechanical properties due to its high work hardening ability and stable strain hardening rate. The product of strength and elongation of Al_0.6CrFe₂Ni₂Mo_0.2 reached up to 38.6 GPa%, which was higher than most of the reported as-cast high-entropy alloys.

Key words: High-entropy alloys, Mechanical properties, Microstructures, Strain hardening

Qiuxin Nie, Hui Liang, Dongxu Qiao, Zhaoxin Qi, Zhiqiang Cao. Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Multi-component Al_xCrFe₂Ni₂Mo_0.2 High-Entropy Alloys[J]. Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters), 2020, 33(8): 1135-1144.

Figures/Tables 13

Fig. 1 XRD patterns of the as-cast AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 high-entropy alloys

Table 1 Parameters of ΔR, ΔHmix, VEC, ΔχPauling and ΔχAllen for AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 HEAs

Alloys	ΔR (%)	ΔH_mix (kJ/mol)	VEC	Δχ_Pauling (%)	Δχ_Allen (%)
Al0.6	4.582	- 8.775	7.475	12.56	11.28
Al0.7	4.784	- 9.365	7.452	12.74	11.37
Al0.8	4.965	- 9.911	7.406	12.90	11.46
Al0.9	5.120	- 10.417	7.385	13.04	11.53

Table 2 Lattice constant of AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 HEAs

Alloys	FCC (Å)	BCC (Å)
Al0.6	3.5997	2.8886
Al0.7	3.6205	2.8803
Al0.8	3.6182	2.8920
Al0.9	3.6150	2.8862

Fig. 2 Optical micrographs of as-cast AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 alloys showing microstructural evolution from dendrite a, b to columnar grains c, then to dendrite with little component segregation d

Fig. 3 SEM images of as-cast AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 alloys: ax = 0.6, bx = 0.7, cx = 0.8, dx = 0.9

Table 3 WDS results of Al0.6 and Al0.7 in different regions

Alloy	Spectrum point	Al	Cr	Fe	Ni	Mo
Al0.6	A	8.36	17.90	39.18	31.97	2.58
	B	14.03	18.10	29.51	33.78	4.57
Al0.7	A	8.98	17.96	38.57	31.91	2.58
	B	14.09	19.13	31.84	30.86	4.09

Fig. 4 EPMA mapping of Al0.6: a backscattered electron image, b Al, c Cr, d Fe, e Ni, f Mo

Table 4 Chemical mixing enthalpy of the atomic pairs

	Al	Cr	Fe	Ni	Mo
Al	-	-	-	-	-
Cr	- 10	-	-	-	-
Fe	- 11	- 1	-	-	-
Ni	- 22	- 7	- 2	-	-
Mo	- 5	0	- 2	- 7	-

Fig. 5 Engineering a and true b stress-strain curves, as well as strain hardening rate c and lnS-lne curves d of AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 alloys

Table 5 Data summary for AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2 alloys, including tensile yield strength σyt, tensile fracture strength σbt, tensile elongation εt, Vickers hardness HV, the volume fraction of BCC phase [BCC (%)] and the product of strength and elongation (GPa%)

Alloy	σ_yt (MPa)	σ_bt (MPa)	ε_t (%)	HV	BCC (%)	Product of strength and elongation (GPa%)
Al0.6	341	744	52	241.52	6.74	38.6
Al0.7	398	785	25	298.17	17.01	19.6
Al0.8	622	1059	9	388.56	38.76	9.5
Al0.9	657	1067	8	397.10	42.43	8.5

Fig. 6 Tensile yield strength, hardness and the volume fraction of BCC phase with x value of AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2

Fig. 7 Fracture morphologies of AlxCrFe2Ni2Mo0.2: a Al0.6, b Al0.7, c Al0.8, d Al0.9

Fig. 8 Yield stress versus product of strength and elongation for the reported as-cast high-entropy alloys in the engineering stress-strain condition

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Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Multi-component Al_xCrFe₂Ni₂Mo_0.2 High-Entropy Alloys

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