Nanomechanical Behavior of CoCrFeMnNi High-Entropy Alloy

The nanomechanical behavior of the Co20Cr20Fe20Mn20Ni20 high-entropy alloy was investigated in as-cast, rolled, annealed, and thin-film forms. Dislocation nucleation was studied by repeated indents at a low load for each of the different processing conditions. Distinct displacement bursts (pop in) were observed in the loading curve marked by incipient plasticity for all the samples. The as-cast and annealed samples showed pop ins for 100% of the indents, whereas the rolled and thin-film samples showed a much lower fraction of displacement bursts. This was explained by the high density of dislocations for the cold-worked and thin-film conditions. The strong depth dependence of hardness was explained by geometrically necessary dislocations. The nanomechanical behavior and twinned microstructure indicate low stacking-fault energy for this high-entropy alloy.