Characteristic deformation microstructure evolution and deformation mechanisms in face-centered cubic high/medium entropy alloys

Yoshida, Shuhei*; Gong, W.   ; 9 of others*

Face-centered cubic (FCC) high/medium entropy alloys (HEAs/MEAs), novel multi-principal element alloys, are known to exhibit exceptional mechanical properties at room temperature; however, the origin is still elusive. Here, we report the deformation microstructure evolutions in a tensile-deformed CoCrNi representative MEA and CoNi alloy, a conventional binary alloy for comparison. These FCC alloys have high/low friction stresses, and share similar other material properties. The CoCrNi MEA exhibited higher yield strength and work-hardening ability than in the CoNi alloy. Deformation microstructures in the CoCrNi alloy were marked by the presence of coarse dislocation cells (DCs) regardless of grain orientation and a few deformation twins (DTs) in grains with the tensile axis (TA) near 1 1 1. In contrast, the MEA developed three distinct deformation microstructures depending on grain orientations: fine DCs in grains with the TA near 1 0 0, planar dislocation structure (PDS) in grains with other orientations, and a high density of DTs along with PDS in grains oriented 1 1 1. These findings demonstrate that FCC HEAs/MEAs with high friction stresses naturally develop unique deformation microstructures which is beneficial for realizing superior mechanical properties compared to conventional materials.