Phase separation of metastable CoCrFeNi high entropy alloy at intermediate temperatures

CoCrFeNi alloy is an exemplary stable base for high entropy alloys (HEAs), but its phase stability is still suspicious. Here, the CoCrFeNi HEA was firstly identified to be thermally metastable at 750 degrees C. Composition decomposition occurred after annealed at 750 degrees C for 800 h. The minor addition of Al accelerated the composition decomposition and a second fcc phase with a different lattice constant occurred in the long time annealed CoCrFeNiAl0.(1) HEA. The CoCrFeNi HEA cannot be seen as stable alloys anymore and researchers should be very careful when using the current phase selection models to predict stability of HEAs at intermediate temperatures. (C) 2016 Acta Materialia Inc Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.