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Deformation behavior of nanocrystalline and ultrafine-grained CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloys

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  • Nanocrystalline High Entropy Materials: Processing Challenges and Properties
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Abstract

Nanocrystalline (NC) and ultrafine-grained (UFG) CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) with grain size ranging between 59 and 386 nm was produced via powder metallurgy and heat treatment. The as-sintered HEA exhibited two face-centered cubic (FCC) phases (CoCrFeNi-rich and Cu-rich phases) and a small grain size (59 nm), whereas the alloy after heat treatment at 1000 °C exhibited a CoCuFeNi-rich phase with FCC structure and relatively larger grain size (386 nm). Moreover, the yield strength decreased from 1930 to 883 MPa, and plastic strain to failure increased by 8–32%. In terms of microstructural evolution, grain boundary strengthening coupled with lattice distortion was the dominant strengthening mechanism for NC HEAs. Furthermore, the coefficient for boundary strengthening was higher in the HEAs than in the corresponding pure elemental metals with FCC structure, possibly because of significant lattice distortion. The UFG HEAs exhibited high strength and good ductility because of the activation of dislocation.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea and funded by Ministry of Science, ICT (MSIT; 2013K1A4A3055679, 2015R1D1A1A01060718, 2015R1A5A7037615, 2016M2B2A9A02943809, and 2017M1A3A3A02015639).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kookmin University, Seoul, 02707, Republic of Korea

    Seungjin Nam, Jae-Hun Kim & Hyunjoo Choi

  2. Institute of Advanced Composite Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Jeonbuk, 55324, Republic of Korea

    Jun Yeon Hwang

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Jonggyu Jeon & Donghyun Bae

  4. High Temperature Energy Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Jihye Park

  5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, 75080, USA

    Moon J. Kim

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  1. Seungjin Nam
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Correspondence to Jae-Hun Kim or Hyunjoo Choi.

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Nam, S., Hwang, J.Y., Jeon, J. et al. Deformation behavior of nanocrystalline and ultrafine-grained CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloys. Journal of Materials Research 34, 720–731 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.477

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