A Physical Mechanism-Based Model of CoCrFeMnNi High Entropy Alloy Considering Adiabatic Heat Effect for Hot Bulk Forming Processes

Fabrication of a newly developed high entropy alloy is an essential step to enable it to be used as an industrial structure for its potential applications, such as billets, frames and tubes. Bulk forming processes at high temperatures are preferably used requiring the hot flow behavior of the HEA, which needs to be thoroughly investigated for accurate construction of a robust constitutive model and, hence, reliable process simulation and optimizations. In this study, to compensate for the lack of modelling microstructure using conventional phenomenological models, a novel physical mechanism-based model of CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy was established. Particularly, the adiabatic heat effect was taken into account for modelling the HEA for the first time. The hot flow behavior, as well as grain evolution of this alloy under different forming conditions, are well modelled. The modelling predictions obtain great agreement with the experimental results, the calculated R-value (all higher than 0.95) and AARE (all smaller than 0.05) because the different conditions provide validity to the accuracy of the model prediction. In addition, the temperature increase due to deformation heat was well predicted to further evident to the accuracy of model. Furthermore, the hardening behavior during hot deformation was also compared, enabling the provision of useful guides for process designers of hot bulk forming HEAs.