Exceptional cryogenic strength and sufficient ductility of a nanotwinned high-entropy alloy fabricated by cryogenic multi-directional compression

Nanotwinned structures have been reported to produce superior mechanical properties. In this work, na-notwinned Al0.1CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) was fabricated by cryogenic multi-directional com-pression (CMC) followed by stress-relief annealing. The nanotwinned HEA samples exhibited excellent cryogenic tensile properties with a yield strength of similar to 1.2 GPa and uniform elongation of similar to 27%, which is attributed to the introduction of high-density dislocations as well as hierarchical nanotwins (NTs) in the HEA samples. During the cryogenic tensile testing, more NTs were activated, increasing the possibility of dislocation and NTs interactions, further activating multiple deformation mechanisms, including the for-mation of stacking faults (SFs), microbands, and shear bands, thereby increasing the yield strength and maintaining a stable strain hardening ability. This strategy provides new insights into the development of high-performance HEAs applied in cryogenic environments.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This work investigates the fabrication of nanotwinned Al0.1CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) using cryogenic multi-directional compression (CMC) followed by stress-relief annealing, and demonstrates the enhanced cryogenic tensile properties of the nanotwinned HEA. The introduction of high-density dislocations and hierarchical nanotwins in the HEA samples contributes to the excellent mechanical performance.