Microstructure and compressive properties of multicomponent Alx(TiVCrMnFeCoNiCu)100-x high-entropy alloys

The microstructure and compressive properties of Al-x(TiVCrMnFeCoNiCu)(100-x) (x = 0, 11.1, 20 and 40 at.%) high-entropy alloys were studied. With the increase of Al content, the number of phases in the alloys gradually decreases. When Al content is 20 at.%, only bcc solid-solution structure is found in the alloy. The effect of high mixing entropy does facilitate the formation of simple solid solutions, making the total number of phases well below the maximum equilibrium number allowed by the Gibbs phase rule. The solid-solution strengthening mechanism and the structure transformation from fee to bee make the alloys have fairly high compressive strength; among them the compressive strength of Al-11.1 (TiVCrMnFeCoNiCu)(88.9) alloy reaches 2.431 GPa. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.