Tensile strength prediction of dual-phase Al0.6CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys

The evolution of the microstructure and tensile properties of dual-phase Al0.6CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys(HEAs)subjected to cold rolling was investigated.The homogenized Al0.6CoCrFeNi alloys consisted of face-centered-cubic and body-centered-cubic phases,presenting similar mechanical behavior as the as-cast state.The yield and tensile strengths of the alloys could be dramatically enhanced to^1205 MPa and^1318 MPa after 50%rolling reduction,respectively.A power-law relationship was discovered between the strain-hardening exponent and rolling reduction.The tensile strengths of this dual-phase HEA with different cold rolling treatments were predicted,mainly based on the Hollomon relationship,by the strain-hardening exponent,and showed good agreement with the experimental results.

Deformation behavior and plastic instability of boronized Al0.25CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys

Using thermochemical treatments,boronized layers were successfully prepared on Al0.25CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys(HEAs).The thickness of the boronized layers ranged widely from 20 to 50μm,depending on the heat treatment time.Boronizing remarkably improved the surface hardness from HV 188 to HV 1265 after treating at 900°C for 9 h.Moreover,boronizing enhanced the yield strength of HEAs from 195 to 265 MPa but deteriorated the tensile ductility.Multiple crackings in the boride layers significantly decreased the plasticity.The insufficient work-hardening capacity essentially facilitated the plastic instability of the boronized HEAs.With decreasing substrate thickness,the fracture modes gradually transformed from dimples to quasi-cleavage and eventually to cleavage.

Dendritic and spherical crystal reinforced metallic glass matrix composites

Zr-based bulk metallic glass matrix composites （BMGMCs） with a composition of Zr60.0Ti14.7Nb5.3Cu5.6Ni4.4- Be10.0 （at%） were fabricated by an innovative process, i.e., semisolid processing plus Bridgman solidification. Different morphologies, distributions, and volume fractions of the crystalline phases can be achieved by tailoring the withdrawal velocity. The largest fi-acture strain of Zr60.0Ti14.7Nb5.3Cu5.6Ni4.4Be10.0 （at%） composites with the withdrawal velocity of 1.0 mm/s was found to be 16.7%. The mechanism of plasticity improvement is mainly attributed to the interpenetrated structure of the crystalline phase, which greatly confines the rapid propagation of shear bands.

Preternatural Hexagonal High-Entropy Alloys: A Review

Recently,various topics on high-entropy alloys have been reported and great amounts of excellent properties have been investigated,including high strength,great corrosion resistance,great thermal stability,good fatigue and fracture properties,etc.Among all these research activities,high-entropy alloys tend to form face-centered-cubic(FCC)or body-centeredcubic(BCC)solid solutions due to their high-entropy stabilization effect,while the hexagonal structures are rarely reported.Up to now,the reported hexagonal high-entropy alloys are mainly composed of rare-earth elements and transitional elements.Their phase transformation and magnetic properties have also aroused wide concern.This study summarizes the above results and provides the forecast to the future.

FCC-to-HCP Phase Transformation in CoCrNi_x Medium-Entropy Alloys

A hybrid first-principles/Monte Carlo simulation is combined with experiments to study the structure and elastic properties of CoCrNi_x(x=1-0.5)alloys.The experimental X-ray diffraction patterns show that the structures have changed from the single-phase face-centered cubic(FCC)structure at x=1-0.8 to the coexistence of FCC and the hexagonal close-packed structures at x=0.7-0.5,which is further confirmed by calculations on mixing energies.The elastic moduli by calculation are basically in agreement with experiments.Room-temperature tension shows that the six alloys have a certain plasticity,the strength and plasticity of the alloys have a linear decrease with the decrease in Ni contents,and the plasticity of the alloys drops from 84 to 23%.Furthermore,first-principles density function theory calculations were employed to reveal the electronic and magnetic structures of alloys.The electron density of states for all alloys is asymmetrical,which illustrates that the alloys are ferromagnetism.It is found that Cr atoms can suppress the ferromagnetism of alloys,since Cr atoms have both positive and negative magnetic moments in all alloys.

Tuning Cr-rich nanoprecipitation and heterogeneous structure in equiatomic CrFeNi medium-entropy stainless alloys

High-/medium-entropy stainless alloys(HESAs/MESAs)are a new kind of alloys with great potential to combine excellent properties from high-/medium-entropy alloys(HEAs/MEAs)and stainless steels.A CrFeNi MESA was chosen to investigate its microstructures and mechanical behaviors.After homogenization,the strength and ductility of CrFeNi MESAs with single-phase face-centered-cubic(fcc)structure were higher compared with those of Fe_(100−x-y)Cr_(x)Ni_(y)austenitic stainless steels.Cr-rich body-centered-cubic(bcc)precipitates and heterogeneous structure were introduced by cold rolling and annealing at 800℃.Rolling at 700℃ results in higher dislocation density and the occurrence of lamellar Cr-rich bcc precipitates.High-density dislocations and fcc grains with heterogeneous structure,together with Cr-rich bcc precipitates,contribute to a yield strength improvement of about 50 MPa,and appreciable tensile yield strength of~540 MPa and fracture strain of~20%are obtained.It reveals that not only compositional variations but also grain size and phase structure tuning can be utilized for achieving desired mechanical properties.

Enhanced strength and toughness in 40CrNiMo steels by austempering below martensite start temperature

The austempering above and below martensite transition temperature(M_(s))was employed in a medium-carbon low-alloy 40CrNiMo steel,and the bainite and martensite multiphase microstructures with different volume fractions were obtained.Here,the effect of pre-existing martensite on subsequent transformation of bainite microstructure and mechanical properties is focused and researched.The microstructure with a volume fraction of pre-existing martensite(V_(PM)),bainite(V_(B)),and martensite/austenite(V_(M/A))constituents of approximately 28%,46%,and 26%,respectively could be obtained by austenitizing below M_(s)(280℃)for 1 h,and an optimum combination of strength,ductility,and impact toughness(yield strength of 1420 MPa,ultimate tensile strength of 1795 MPa,total elongation of 7.9%,and V-notch impact value of 37 J)was achieved.The considerable enhancement of mechanical properties in the sample austenitized below M_(s)is mainly ascribed to the formation of the pre-existing martensite,resulting in an effective reduction in the size of the bainite plates and martensite/austenite constituents.

A Brief Review of High Entropy Alloys and Serration Behavior and Flow Units

Multicomponent alloys with high entropy of mixing,e.g.,high entropy alloys（HEAs）and/or multiprincipal-element alloys（MEAs）,are attracting increasing attentions,because the materials with novel properties are being developed,based on the design strategy of the equiatomic ratio,multicomponent,and high entropy of mixing in their liquid or random solution state.Recently,HEAs with the ultrahigh strength and fracture toughness,excellent magnetic properties,high fatigue,wear and corrosion resistance,great phase stability/high resistance to heat-softening behavior,sluggish diffusion effects,and potential superconductivity,etc.,were developed.The HEAs can even have very high irradiation resistance and may have some self-healing effects,and can potentially be used as the first wall and nuclear fuel cladding materials.Serration behaviors and flow units are powerful methods to understand the plastic deformation or fracture of materials.The methods have been successfully used to study the plasticity of amorphous alloys（also bulk metallic glasses,BMGs）.The flow units are proposed as：free volumes,shear transition zones（STZs）,tension-transition zones（TTZs）,liquid-like regions,soft regions or soft spots,etc.The flow units in the crystalline alloys are usually dislocations,which may interact with the solute atoms,interstitial types,or substitution types.Moreover,the flow units often change with the testing temperatures and loading strain rates,e.g.,at the low temperature and high strain rate,plastic deformation will be carried out by the flow unit of twinning,and at high temperatures,the grain boundary will be the weak area,and play as the flow unit.The serration shapes are related to the types of flow units,and the serration behavior can be analyzed using the power law and modified power law.

Tribological Properties of a Dendrite-reinforced Ti-based Metallic Glass Matrix Composite under Different Conditions

The tribological properties of the in-situ dendrite-reinforced metallic glass matrix composite（Ti42Zr22V14-Cu5Be17）prepared by copper mould casting were analyzed at different normal loads under the dry condition and rainwater.The results showed that the average value of the frictional coefficients and micro-hardness ascended with increasing the normal load,while the wear rate showed a trend of decline under the dry condition.The electrochemical test results showed that the surface of samples was pitting corroded in the rainwater.The matrices were corroded first.Then the dendrites were exposed,leading to the damage of the surface.Both the frictional coefficients and wear rate of the composite in the rainwater were larger than those under the dry condition,primarily owing to the corrosion of chloride ions on the worn surface.The wear mechanisms of composites were mainly adhesive wear,accompanied by the abrasive wear under the dry condition and corrosive wear in the rainwater.The composites have higher wear resistance both under the dry condition and rainwater due to the lower wear rate.

Entropy versus enthalpy in hexagonal-close-packed highentropy alloys

The addition of hexagonal-close-packed(hcp)non-rare-earth elements Zr,Ti and Co,to the 10-component hep rare-earth-based high-entropy alloys(HEAs)with a composition of ScYLaNdGdTbDyHoErLuX(X=Zr,Co and Ti)was investigated.The enthalpy of mixing between elements was found to have a significant effect on the formation of phases.The addition of Co combines with elements that had a strong chemical affinity to form intermetallic compounds by the effect of enthalpy.Ti was added with all elements with poor chemical affinity and exhibited rejection to form a phase alone.These were the two terminal manifestations of the role of enthalpy over entropy.Part of Zr was soluble in the matrix under the action of entropy,while the other part had a greater affinity for Sc than the other elements to form a precipitate under the action of enthalpy.This was the result of the local balance between the effect of enthalpy and entropy.The solid solution of the elements had different degrees of strengthening effect,among which Zr had the most excellent strengthening effect from 185 to 355 MPa,so the solid solution strengthening model and precipitation strengthening model were proposed to predict the strength of the alloy with the addition of Zr effectively.

Twinning induced remarkable strain hardening in a novel Fe_(50)Mn_(20)Cr_(20)Ni_(10) medium entropy alloy

The microstructures and tension properties of Fe_(50)Mn_(20)Cr_(20)Ni_(10) medium entropy alloy(MEA)were investigated,which was produced by vacuum induction melting and subsequently was homogenized at 1200 C for 6 h.Microstructure characterization shows the single-phase solid solution with face-centered cubic structure by means of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy combined with energy disperse spectroscopy.Our Fe-MEA has an ultimate tensile strength of 550±10 MPa and a high strain hardening exponent,n,of 0.41 as well as a higher ductility(60%)than those of CrMnFeCoNi alloy.The single-phase solid solution deforms plastically via dislocations and twins.Twin boundaries associated with deformation twinning impede dislocation motion,enhancing the strain hardening capacity.This article focuses on the insights into the concept of Fe-MEAs and provides a potential direction for the future development of high entropy alloys and MEAs.

Statistical analysis on strain-rate effects during serrations in a Zr-based bulk metallic glass

By means of statistical analysis,the deformation mechanisms taking place in elastic loading and plastic shearing stages during serrated flows on the stress-strain curves for bulk metallic glasses were studied comprehensively.Normalized serration number presented a linear increasing tendency with the decrease of applied strain rates due to the reduction of free volumes.An excellent plastic deformation was illustrated from the influences of structure arrangement with activation energy.By using mean-field theory（MFT）,maximum elastic-energy density at different strain rates could be predicted by MFT besides maximum stress drops during serrations.These results were helpful for understanding the serrated flow behavior or designing decent schemes to improve the plasticity of bulk metallic glasses at room temperature.

Universality of slip avalanches in a ductile Fe-based bulk metallic glass

Intermittent serrated flows of a novel ductile Fe60Ni20P13C7 bulk metallic glass（BMG）at variant strain rates were investigated by statistics analysis.Peak and clutter distribution of slip-avalanche magnitudes are displayed during stable plastic flows at strain rates of 2×10-4 s-1 and 5×10-5 s-1,respectively,which means that serration behavior depends on the strain rate.However,the remarkable agreement between measured slip-avalanche magnitudes and the scaling behavior,i.e.a universal complementary cumulative distribution function（CCDF）predicted by mean-field theory（MFT）model,indicates that the plasticity of the present Fe-based BMGs can be tuned by imposed strain rates：Smax^6）ε-λ.This tuned plasticity is elucidated with expended free-volume model.Moreover,the scaling behavior of serrated flows for other strain rates can be predicted as well.

Non-linear behavior in advanced materials

The 17th IUMRS International Conference in Asia was held in Qingdao from October 20th to 24th,2016.This conference contained 28international symposia.One of symposia,titled as Serration and Noise Behavior in Advanced Materials,was well organized,which provided an effective platform to discuss the non-linear behavior in advanced materials including high-entropy alloys,bulk metallic glasses,and lightweight alloys,etc.Generally speaking,serration and noise phenomenon exist everywhere,such as,

Self-organized Criticality Behavior in Bulk Metallic Glasses

Serrated flows are known as repeated yielding of bulk metallic glasses（BMGs）during plastic deformation under different loading conditions,which are associated with the operation of shear banding.According to the statistics of some parameters,the shear avalanches can display a self-organized critical state,suggesting a large ductility of BMGs.The emergence of the self-organized criticality（SOC）behavior in different BMGs is due to the temperature,strain rate,and chemical compositions.The SOC behavior is accompanied with the following phenomena：the interactions occur in the shear bands;the incubation time is longer than the relaxation time;the time interval is lacking of typical time scale;and the spatial or temporal parameters should display apower-law distribution.

Serration and Noise Behavior in Advanced Materials

The Chinese Materials Research Society（C-MRS）Conference（2015）was held in the Guizhou Park Hotel International Conference Center,Guiyang,China,from July 10-14,2015.This conference consists of 30symposia,including 4international symposia.As one of 4international symposia,＂Serration and noise behavior in advanced materials＂

Serration Behavior in Zr-Cu-Al Glass-forming Systems

The metallic glass matrix composites（MGMCs）and bulk metallic glasses（BMGs）were studied by statistical analysis during plastic deformation at the strain rates of 2×10^-2,2×10^-3,and 2×10^-4 s^-1,respectively.No serration events occur in both MGMCs and BMGs during compression tests at the strain rate of 2×10^-2 s^-1.When deformed at the strain rate of 2×10^-3 s^-1,the BMG displays a larger plasticity,which is due to the larger serration events followed by a series of small serrations caused by the continuous movement of free volume.The amplitudes and elastic-energy densities increase with increasing the strain rates owing to many serrations in MGMCs.It is deduced that the Young′s modulus decreases from the normalized stress drop and fluctuations are observed on stressstrain curves,which is attributed to a lower coefficient according to the stick-slip model.

Preface： Metastable alloys

With the increase in the cooling rate during solidification, ultrafine grained alloys （micrometer and nanometer scale） and even amorphous alloys would form as a result. Thermodynamically, they are not stable and subjected to effective heat treatment. These alloys could experience coarsening （grain growth）, crystallization, phase transformation, etc. Besides, under magnetic, electric, and mechanical fields, the alloys including thermally unsta- ble alloys may also have structure and property transition. The above-mentioned alloys can be called metastable alloys.