Strengthening and Toughening Mechanisms of Precipitation- Hardened Fe53Mn15Ni15Cr10Al4Ti2C1 High-Entropy Alloy

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00242

Acta Metall Sin

2022, Vol. 58

Issue (1): 54-66 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00242

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Strengthening and Toughening Mechanisms of Precipitation- Hardened Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ High-Entropy Alloy

SUN Shijie¹, TIAN Yanzhong², ZHANG Zhefeng¹(

)

^1. Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
^2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China

Cite this article:

SUN Shijie, TIAN Yanzhong, ZHANG Zhefeng. Strengthening and Toughening Mechanisms of Precipitation- Hardened Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ High-Entropy Alloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2022, 58(1): 54-66.

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Abstract

There has been significant progress in the development of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with unconventional compositions in the past decade to meet the demand from a wide variety of industries, such as automotive, shipbuilding, and aerospace. The fcc HEAs have attracted growing attention due to their superior mechanical and functional properties. However, these HEAs exhibit low or modest yield strength, limiting their potential industrial application. To enhance the strength of the fcc HEAs, materials researchers are exploring additional strengthening methods, such as grain refinement, solid solution strengthening, and precipitation strengthening. However, the strengthening approaches mentioned above suffer from the trade-off dilemma between strength and ductility. In this study, a new precipitation-hardened Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA was designed by adding Al, Ti, and C elements based on the fcc HEA. Then the HEA was treated utilizing heavy-deformation and various heat-treatment processes, tuning the microstructure and precipitate. The cold-rolled alloy microstructure presented rolling bands (including deformation twins) and a significant dislocation density. Furthermore, the HEA microstructure consists of rolling bands, high-density dislocations, and nanoscale precipitates following heat treatment at medium temperatures for an extended period. In particular, the HEA possessed a superior balance between strength and ductility, resulting from the significant precipitation strengthening effect of L1₂ precipitates that were coherent with the matrix in the microstructure as well as the improved strain-hardening ability due to the recovery of dislocations. The precipitation-hardened HEA with an inhomogeneous microstructure could be obtained through heat treatment at medium temperatures over long periods, which exhibited an excellent strength-ductility relationship.

Key words: high-entropy alloy precipitation strengthening inhomogeneous microstructure strength ductility

Received: 10 June 2021

ZTFLH:

TG113.2

Fund: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(N180204015);Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program(XLYC1808027);Special Research Assistant Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and IMR Innovation Fund(2021-PY16)

About author: ZHANG Zhefeng, professor, Tel: (024)23971043, E-mail: zhfzhang@imr.ac.cn

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	Shijie SUN
	Yanzhong TIAN
	Zhefeng ZHANG

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00242 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2022/V58/I1/54

Fig.1 XRD spectrum (a) and SEM image (b) of as-cast Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ high-entropy alloy (HEA)

Fig.2 Microhardnesses of the cold-rolling (CR) Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ sheets at different heat treatment processes(a) annealing at different temperatures for 1 h(b) annealing at 873 and 923 K for different time

Fig.3 XRD spectra of the Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA with different heat treatment states and CR state

Fig.4 EBSD images of the Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA with different heat treatment states (RD—rolling direction, ND—normal direction)
(a) 873 K, 1 h (b) 873 K, 50 h (c) 923 K, 1 h (d) 1023 K, 1 h

Fig.5 BSE image of the Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA annealing at 873 K for 50 h and SEM-EDS maps of Al, Ni, Fe, Ti, Cr,and Mn elements

Fig.6 TEM images of the Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA with different states
(a, b) CR state (c) 873 K, 1 h (d) 873 K, 50 h (e) 923 K, 1 h (f) 1023 K, 1 h

Fig.7 STEM high-angle annular dark field (HAADF ) images and corresponding STEM-EDS maps of square areas for each component in the Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA with different states and CR state

Fig.8 TEM analyses of the Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA annealing at 873 K for 50 h
(a) bright field TEM image showing the deformation twin and short-rod precipitate; inset showing the corresponding SAED pattern along z = [110] zone-axis (Arrow in the inset indicates the diffraction spot of Ll₂ precipitate)
(b) bright field TEM image showing the spherical precipitate
(c) dark field TEM image showing the spherical precipitate
(d) HRTEM image showing the precipitate and matrix, with their fast Fourier transform (FFT) patterns on the right-hand side

Fig.9 Tensile engineering stress-strain curves (a) and strain-hardening rate curves (b) of Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅-Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEAs in as-cast state, CR state, and in different heat treatment states, and plots of yield strength and uniform elongation for Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEAs in this work and of other HEAs and medium-entropy alloys^{[6,7,12,13,21,30-44]} as reported in the previous work (c)

Fig.10 TEM images of fractured Fe₅₃Mn₁₅Ni₁₅Cr₁₀Al₄Ti₂C₁ HEA annealing at 873 K for 50 h

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