Enhanced mechanical performance of grain boundary precipitation-hardened high-entropy alloys via a phase transformation at grain boundaries

Grain-boundary(GB)precipitation has a significant adverse effect on plasticity of alloys,which easily leads to catastrophic intergranular failure in safety-critical applications under high external loading.Herein,we report a novel strategy that uses the local stress concentration induced by GB precipitates as a driving force to trigger phase transformation of preset non-equiatomic high-entropy solid-solution phase at GBs.This in situ deformation-induced phase transformation at GBs introduces a well-known effect:transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP),which enables an exceptional elongation to fracture(above 38%)at a high strength(above 1.5 GPa)in a GB precipitation-hardened high-entropy alloy(HEA).The present strategy in terms of"local stress concentration-induced phase transformations at GBs"may provide a fundamental approach by taking advantage of(rather than avoiding)the GB precipitation to gain a superior combination of high strength and high ductility in HEAs.