Effect of Atomic Size Difference on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of High-Entropy Alloys

The effects of atomic size difference on the microstructure and mechanical properties of single face-centered cubic (FCC) phase high-entropy alloys are studied. Single FCC phase high-entropy alloys, namely, CoCrFeMnNi, Al0.2CoCrFeMnNi, and Al0.3CoCrCu0.3FeNi, display good workability. The recrystallization and grain growth rates are compared during annealing. Adding Al with 0.2 molar ratio into CoCrFeMnNi retains the single FCC phase. Its atomic size difference increases from 1.18% to 2.77%, and the activation energy of grain growth becomes larger than that of CoCrFeMnNi. The as-homogenized state of Al0.3CoCrCu0.3FeNi high-entropy alloy becomes a single FCC structure. Its atomic size difference is 3.65%, and the grain growth activation energy is the largest among these three kinds of single-phase high-entropy alloys. At ambient temperature, the mechanical properties of Al0.3CoCrCu0.3FeNi are better than those of CoCrFeMnNi because of high lattice distortion and high solid solution hardening.