On the entropic stabilisation of an Al0.5CrFeCoNiCu high entropy alloy

The extent to which configurational entropy can stabilise a single solid solution in an Al0.5CrFeCoNiCu high entropy alloy has been assessed through characteristion of samples following casting and heat treatment at 1000 degrees C. At temperatures between 1000 degrees C and the onset of melting, the alloy was shown to be within a two phase field and these phases were stable following prolonged exposure at elevated temperature. X-ray and transmission electron diffraction indicated that both constituent phases had an fcc structure. Therefore, these phases share a Gibbs energy curve that must contain two local minima at the solidus temperature, rather than the single minimum required for a continuous solid solution. These observations indicate that there is no temperature at which this material is in a stable, solid state single phase field and that therefore, the configurational complexity is insufficient to stabilise a solid solution phase against enthalpic effects. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).