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Title: Dislocation mechanisms and 3D twin architectures generate exceptional strength-ductility-toughness combination in CrCoNi medium-entropy alloy

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14390· OSTI ID:1376451
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Center of Electron Microscopy. State Key Lab. of Silicon Materials
  2. George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Sciences and Technology Division
  6. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Center of Electron Microscopy. State Key Lab. of Silicon Materials; Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  7. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Combinations of high strength and ductility are hard to attain in metals. Exceptions include materials exhibiting twinning-induced plasticity. To understand how the strength-ductility trade-off can be defeated, we apply in situ, and aberration-corrected scanning, transmission electron microscopy to examine deformation mechanisms in the medium-entropy alloy CrCoNi that exhibits one of the highest combinations of strength, ductility and toughness on record. Ab initio modelling suggests that it has negative stacking-fault energy at 0K and high propensity for twinning. With deformation we find that a three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical twin network forms from the activation of three twinning systems. This serves a dual function: conventional twin-boundary (TB) strengthening from blockage of dislocations impinging on TBs, coupled with the 3D twin network which offers pathways for dislocation glide along, and cross-slip between, intersecting TB-matrix interfaces. The stable twin architecture is not disrupted by interfacial dislocation glide, serving as a continuous source of strength, ductility and toughness.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); State Key Program for Basic Research in China
Contributing Organization:
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China); George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1611064; 2015CB65930
OSTI ID:
1376451
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1398464
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 375 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Revealing the Microstates of Body-Centered-Cubic (BCC) Equiatomic High Entropy Alloys journal June 2017
Magnetically-driven phase transformation strengthening in high entropy alloys journal April 2018
Twinning in metastable high-entropy alloys journal June 2018
Strengthening in multi-principal element alloys with local-chemical-order roughened dislocation pathways journal August 2019
Nanotwinned and hierarchical nanotwinned metals: a review of experimental, computational and theoretical efforts journal February 2018
Nature-Inspired Hierarchical Steels journal March 2018
Twinning-induced strain hardening in dual-phase FeCoCrNiAl0.5 at room and cryogenic temperature journal July 2018
Unusual plastic deformation behavior of nanotwinned Cu/high entropy alloy FeCoCrNi nanolaminates journal January 2019
Melts of CrCoNi-based high-entropy alloys: Atomic diffusion and electronic/atomic structure from ab initio simulation journal September 2018
Phase transformations of Al-bearing high-entropy alloys Al x CoCrFeNi (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.75, 1.5) at high pressure journal March 2019
From symmetry to entropy: Crystal entropy difference strongly affects early stage phase transformation journal December 2019
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Impact of Chemical Fluctuations on Stacking Fault Energies of CrCoNi and CrMnFeCoNi High Entropy Alloys from First Principles journal August 2018
Elemental Phase Partitioning in the γ-γ″ Ni2CoFeCrNb0.15 High Entropy Alloy journal November 2018
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Influence of Annealing on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Nanocrystalline CrCoNi Medium-Entropy Alloy journal April 2018
Generalized Stacking Fault Energy of Al-Doped CrMnFeCoNi High-Entropy Alloy journal December 2019
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Pseudo-binary and pseudo-ternary diffusion couple methods for estimation of the diffusion coefficients in multicomponent systems and high entropy alloys text January 2019
Tunable stacking fault energies by tailoring local chemical order in CrCoNi medium-entropy alloys text January 2018
Strengthening in multi-principal element alloys with local-chemical-order roughened dislocation pathways text January 2019
Crystallographically degenerate B2 precipitation in a plastically deformed fcc-based complex concentrated alloy text January 2018
Stacking Fault Energy Analyses of Additively Manufactured Stainless Steel 316L and CrCoNi Medium Entropy Alloy Using In Situ Neutron Diffraction journal January 2020