Understanding the physical metallurgy of the CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy:an atomistic simulation study

Although high-entropy alloys(HEAs)are attracting interest,the physical metallurgical mechanisms related to their properties have mostly not been clarified,and this limits wider industrial applications,in addition to the high alloy costs.We clarify the physical metallurgical reasons for the materials phenomena(sluggish diffusion and micro-twining at cryogenic temperatures)and investigate the effect of individual elements on solid solution hardening for the equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi HEA based on atomistic simulations(Monte Carlo,molecular dynamics and molecular statics).A significant number of stable vacant lattice sites with high migration energy barriers exists and is thought to cause the sluggish diffusion.We predict that the hexagonal close-packed(hcp)structure is more stable than the face-centered cubic(fcc)structure at 0 K,which we propose as the fundamental reason for the micro-twinning at cryogenic temperatures.The alloying effect on the critical resolved shear stress(CRSS)is well predicted by the atomistic simulation,used for a design of non-equiatomic fcc HEAs with improved strength,and is experimentally verified.This study demonstrates the applicability of the proposed atomistic approach combined with a thermodynamic calculation technique to a computational design of advanced HEAs.

Effects of Cu addition on formability and surface delamination phenomenon in high-strength high-Mn steels

The formability of austenitic high-Mn steels is a critical issue in automotive applications under nonuniformly-deformed environments caused by dynamic strain aging.Among austenite stabilizing alloying elements in those steels,Cu has been known as an effective element to enhance tensile properties via controlling the stacking fault energy and stability of austenite.The effects of Cu addition on formability,however,have not been sufficiently reported yet.In this study,the Cu addition effects on formability and surface characteristics in the austenitic high-Mn TRIP steels were analyzed in consideration of inhomogeneous microstructures containing the segregation of Mn and Cu.To reveal determining factors,various mechanical parameters such as total elongation,post elongation,strain hardening rate,normal anisotropy,and planar anisotropy were correlated to the hole-expansion and cup-drawing test results.With respect to microstructural parameters,roles of(Mn,Cu)-segregation bands and resultant Cu-rich FCC precipitates on the formability and surface delamination were also discussed.

Effects of Craddition on Charpy impact energy in austenitic 0.45C-24Mn-(0,3,6)Cr steels

Effects of Cr addition(0,3,and 6 wt%) on Charpy impact properties of Fe-C-Mn-Cr-based steels were studied by conducting dynamic compression tests at room and cryogenic temperatures.At room temperature,deformation mechanisms of Charpy impacted specimens were observed as twinning induced plasticity(TWIP) without any transfo rmation induced plasticity(TRIP) in all the steels.At cryogenic temperature,many twins were populated in the Cr-added steels,but,interestingly,fine ε-martensite was found in the OCr steel,satisfying the Shoji-Nishiyama(S-N) orientation relationship,{111}γ//{0002}ε and <101>γ//<1120>ε.Even though the cryogenic-temperature staking fault energies(SFEs) of the three steel were situated in the TWIP regime,the martensitic transformation was induced by Mn-and Cr-segregated bands.In the OCr steel,SFEs of low-(Mn,Cr) bands lay between the TWIP and TRIP regimes which were sensitively affected by a small change of SFE.The dynamic compressive test results well showed the relation between segregation bands and the SFEs.Effects of Cr were known as not only increasing the SFE but also promoting the carbide precipitation.In order to identify the possibility of carbide formation,a precipitation kinetics simulation was conducted,and the predicted fractions of precipitated M23C6 were negligible,0.4-1.1×10-5,even at the low cooling rate of 10℃/s.

Body-centered-cubic martensite and the role on room-temperature tensile properties in Si-added SiVCrMnFeCo high-entropy alloys

We present a new class of metastable high-entropy alloys(HEAs),triggering deformation-induced martensitic transformation(DIMT)from face-centered-cubic(FCC)to body-centered-cubic(BCC),i.e.,BCC-DIMT.Through the ab-initio calculation based on 1 st order axial interaction model and combined with the Gibbs free energy calculation,the addition of Si is considered as a critical element which enables to reduce the intrinsic stacking fault energy(ISFE)in Si_xV_((9-x))Cr_(10)Mn_5 Fe_(46)Co_(30)(x=2,4,and 7 at.%)alloy system.The ISFE decreases from-30.4 to-35.5 mJ/m^(2)as the Si content increases from 2 to 7 at.%,which well corresponds to the reduced phase stability of FCC against HCP.The BCC-DIMT occurs in all the alloys via intermediate HCP martensite,and the HCP martensite provides nucleation sites of BCC martensite.Therefore,the transformation rate enhances as the Si content increases in an earlier deformation ra nge.However,the BCC-DIMT is also affected by the phase stability of FCC against BCC,and the stability is the highest at the Si content of 7 at.%.Thus,the 7Si alloy presents the moderate transformation rate in the later deformation range.Due to the well-controlled transformation rate and consequent strain-ha rdening rate,the 7Si alloy possesses the superior combination of strength and ductility beyond 1 GPa of tensile strength at room temperature.Our results suggest that the Si addition can be a favorable candidate in various metastable HEAs for the further property improvement.

Enhancement of ballistic performance enabled by transformation-induced plasticity in high-strength bainitic steel

High-strength bainitic steels have created a lot of interest in recent times because of their excellent combination of strength,ductility,toughness,and high ballistic mass efficiency.Bainitic steels have great potential in the fabrication of steel armor plates.Although various approaches and methods have been conducted to utilize the retained austenite(RA)in the bainitic matrix to control mechanical properties,very few attempts have been conducted to improve ballistic performance utilizing transformationinduced plasticity(TRIP)mechanism.In this study,high-strength bainitic steels were designed by controlling the time of austempering process to have various volume fractions and stability of RA while maintaining high hardness.The dynamic compressive and ballistic impact tests were conducted,and the relation between the effects of TRIP on ballistic performance and the adiabatic shear band(ASB)formation was analyzed.Our results show for the first time that an active TRIP mechanism achieved from a large quantity of metastable RA can significantly enhance the ballistic performance of high-strength bainitic steels because of the improved resistance to ASB formation.Thus,the ballistic performance can be effectively improved by a very short austempering time,which suggests that the utilization of active TRIP behavior via tuning RA acts as a primary mechanism for significantly enhancing the ballistic performance of high-strength bainitic steels.