Single crystal plastic behavior of a single-phase, face-center-cubic-structured, equiatomic FeNiCrCo alloy

To understand the fundamental deformation mechanisms of compositionally complex alloys, single crystals of a multi-component equiatomic FeNiCoCr alloy with face-center-cubic (FCC) structure were grown for mechanical studies. Similar to typical FCC pure metals, slip trace analyses indicate that dislocation slips take place on (1 1 1) planes along [1 (1) over bar 0] directions. The critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) obeys the Schmid law at both 77 and 293 K, and tension compression asymmetry is not observed. Although this material slips in a normal FCC manner both at 293 and 77 K, the strong temperature dependence of the CRSS is abnormal in comparison to the typical FCC metals. (C) 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.