Design and mechanical properties of body-centered cubic AlVCr medium-entropy aluminum alloys

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.05.021Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • The AlVCr medium-entropy aluminum alloys (MEAls) were newly designed based on the “reverse approach” starting from the Al-free VCr system.

  • A large amount of Al leads to the chemical ordering and the intermetallic compounds Al8(V, Cr)5.

  • Significant solid solution strengthening, B2 ordering, and intermetallic compounds contributed to the high specific hardness and compressive strengths.

  • The reverse approach and the AlVCr MEAls could lead to the development of a new class of HEAls and MEAls.

Abstract

The formation of brittle intermetallic compounds and the poor solubility of other metallic elements in Al alloys render the design of high- and medium-entropy Al alloys (HEAls and MEAls, respectively) challenging. Herein, new AlVCr MEAls were developed based on a reverse approach, which involved starting from an equiatomic V–Cr alloy. Al20VCr, Al33VCr, and Al50VCr were synthesized as MEAls using a vacuum induction-based melting process. The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the synthesized MEAls were carefully investigated. Body-centered cubic single-phases formed in Al20VCr and Al33VCr MEAls, in keeping with thermodynamic calculation results as well as multiple phase-prediction parameters. While Al33VCr exhibited brittle fracturing owing to chemical ordering, Al20VCr MEAl exhibited a compressive strain and yield strength of ∼9.4% and ∼1.0 GPa, respectively. Thus, the reverse approach, which is based on the use of an Al-free system initially, should aid the development of a new class of lightweight HEAls and MEAls.

Keywords

Alloy design
Medium-entropy alloys
Aluminum alloys
Microstructure
Lightweight materials

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