Laser surface treatment-introduced gradient nanostructured TiZrHfTaNb refractory high-entropy alloy with significantly enhanced wear resistance

Heterogeneous gradient nanostructured metals have been shown to achieve the strength-ductility synergy, thus potentially possessing the enhanced tribological performance in comparison with their homogeneous nanograined counterparts. In this work, a facile laser surface remelting-based surface treatment technique is developed to fabricate a gradient nanostructured layer on a TiZrHfTaNb refractory highentropy alloy. The characterization of the microstructural evolution along the depth direction from the matrix to the topmost surface layer shows that the average grain size in the ～100 μm-thick gradient nanostructured layer is dramatically refined from the original ～200 μm to only ～8 nm in the top surface layer. The microhardness is therefore gradually increased from ～240 HV in matrix to ～650 HV in the topmost surface layer, approximately 2.7 times. Noticeably, the original coarse-grained single-phase bodycentered-cubic TiZrHfTaNb refractory high-entropy alloy is gradually decomposed into TiNb-rich bodycentered-cubic phase, TaNb-rich body-centered-cubic phase, ZrHf-rich hexagonal-close-packed phase and TiZr Hf-rich face-centered-cubic phase with gradient distribution in grain size along the depth direction during the gradient refinement process. As a result, the novel laser surface treatment-introduced gradient nanostructured TiZrHfTaNb refractory high-entropy alloy demonstrates the significantly improved wear resistance, with the wear rate reducing markedly by an order of magnitude, as compared with the as-cast one. The decomposed multi-phases and gradient nanostructures should account for the enhanced wear resistance. Our findings provide new insights into the refinement mechanisms of the laser-treated refractory high-entropy alloys and broaden their potential applications via heterogeneous gradient nanostructure engineering.