Tensile overload-induced texture effects on the fatigue resistance of a CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy

Lam, T.-N.*; Chin, H.-H.*; Zhang, X.*; Feng, R.*; Wang, H.*; Chiang, C.-Y.*; Lee, S. Y.*; Kawasaki, Takuro   ; Harjo, S.   ; Liaw, P. K.*; Yeh, A.-C.*; Chung, T.-F.*; Huang, E.-W.*

The present study investigates the crystallographic-texture effects on the improved fatigue resistance in the CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with the full-size geometry of the ASTM Standards E647-99. We exploited X-ray nano-diffraction mapping to characterize the crystal-deformation levels ahead of the crack tip after stress unloading under both constant- and tensile overloaded-fatigue conditions. The crack-tip blunting-induced much higher deformation level was concentrated surrounding the crack-tip which delays the fatigue-crack growth immediately after a tensile overload. The predominant deformation texture orientation in the Paris regime was investigated, using electron backscatter diffraction and orientation distribution function analyses. The twinning formation-driven shear deformation gave rise to the development of the Goss-type texture within the plastic deformation regime under a tensile-overloaded-fatigue condition, which was attributed to enhance the crack deflection and thus the tensile induced crack-growth-retardation period in the CoCrFeMnNi HEA.