Microstructure and thermal stability of a Ni-Cr-Co-Ti-V-Al high-entropy alloy coating by laser surface alloying

A Ni-Cr-Co-Ti-V-Al high-entropy alloy (HEA) coating with a BCC phase and (Ni, Co)Ti2 compounds was synthesized successfully by laser surface alloying on a Ti-6Al-4V substrate. The microstructure of as-synthesized coatings is typical, namely, the microstructure from the coating to the substrate changes from equiaxed grains to columnar grains. After remaining at 900 °C for 8 h, the constituent phases remain unchanged. However, owing to the unceasing dissolution of the Ti element, the lattice parameter of the BCC HEA phase changes from 3.06 Å to 3.16 Å. The thermoanalysis results show that the oxidation film on the Ni-Cr-Co-Ti-V-Al HEA coating is mainly composed of TiO2, V2O5, and NiO. The oxidation resistance of this HEA coating may be due to the existence of NiO and the alloying elements Al, Cr, and Co; the oxidation phenomenon should be responsible for the mass increase in the thermogravimetry process. The differential scanning calorimetry and the dynamic differential scanning calorimetry curves show that the synthesized HEA coating is stable below 1005 °C.