Elastic properties of fcc Fe-Mn-X (X = Al, Si) alloys studied by theory and experiment

We have studied the influence of Al and Si additions on the elastic properties of face-centered cubic (fcc) Fe-Mn random alloys with Fe/Mn ratios of 4.00 and 2.33 using ab initio calculations. When Al is added up to 8 at.% the shearing elastic constants (C(11)-C(12))/2 and C(44) decrease, resulting in a drop of similar to 20% in shear and similar to 19% in Young's modulus. In fcc Fe-Mn-Si alloys, the trends in the elastic constants are similar, but less drastic, with a similar to 7% shear and similar to 6% Young's modulus decrease when Si is added up to 8 at.%. The Fe/Mn ratio exhibits a minor influence on the shear and Young's modulus values at constant Al and Si contents. To assess the quality of the ab initio data Fe-Mn-Al and Fe-Mn-Si thin films with an fcc structure were combinatorially synthesized and the elastic properties measured using nanoindentation. For both systems the measured and calculated lattice parameters are in good agreement. Although the measured Young's modulus data showed significant scatter due to the high surface roughness, they are in good agreement with the predicted values. For the Fe-Mn-Al system the calculations generally underestimate the experimental data by similar to 15%. For the Fe-Mn-Si system the calculated data are in general lower by similar to 10% than the experimentally determined values. The presented results are of relevance for multicomponent alloy design, since the effect of Si and Al addition on the elastic properties of Fe-Mn alloys can be predicted based on ab initio data. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.