Exceptional fracture toughness of CrCoNi-based medium- and high-entropy alloys at 20 kelvin
Abstract
Medium- and high-entropy alloys based on the CrCoNi-system have been shown to display outstanding strength, tensile ductility and fracture toughness (damage-tolerance properties), especially at cryogenic temperatures. Here we examine the JIc and (back-calculated) KJIc fracture toughness values of the face-centered cubic, equiatomic CrCoNi and CrMnFeCoNi alloys at 20 K. At flow stress values of ~1.5 GPa, crack-initiation KJIc toughnesses were found to be exceptionally high, respectively 235 and 415 MPa√m for CrMnFeCoNi and CrCoNi, with the latter displaying a crack-growth toughness Kss exceeding 540 MPa√m after 2.25 mm of stable cracking, which to our knowledge is the highest such value ever reported. Characterization of the crack-tip regions in CrCoNi by scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy reveal deformation structures at 20 K that are quite distinct from those at higher temperatures and involve heterogeneous nucleation, but restricted growth, of stacking faults and fine nanotwins, together with transformation to the hexagonal closed-packed phase. The coherent interfaces of these features can promote both the arrest and transmission of dislocations to generate respectively strength and ductility which strongly contributes to sustained strain hardening. Indeed, we believe that these nominally single-phase, concentrated solid-solution alloys develop their fracture resistance through a progressive synergy of deformationmore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Bristol (United Kingdom)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Ruhr Univ., Bochum (Germany)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1986007
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; EP/N004493/2; EP/T000368/1
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Science
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 378; Journal Issue: 6623; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Citation Formats
Liu, Dong, Yu, Qin, Kabra, Saurabh, Jiang, Ming, Forna-Kreutzer, Paul, Zhang, Ruopeng, Payne, Madelyn, Walsh, Flynn, Gludovatz, Bernd, Asta, Mark, Minor, Andrew M., George, Easo P., and Ritchie, Robert O. Exceptional fracture toughness of CrCoNi-based medium- and high-entropy alloys at 20 kelvin. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1126/science.abp8070.
Liu, Dong, Yu, Qin, Kabra, Saurabh, Jiang, Ming, Forna-Kreutzer, Paul, Zhang, Ruopeng, Payne, Madelyn, Walsh, Flynn, Gludovatz, Bernd, Asta, Mark, Minor, Andrew M., George, Easo P., & Ritchie, Robert O. Exceptional fracture toughness of CrCoNi-based medium- and high-entropy alloys at 20 kelvin. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abp8070
Liu, Dong, Yu, Qin, Kabra, Saurabh, Jiang, Ming, Forna-Kreutzer, Paul, Zhang, Ruopeng, Payne, Madelyn, Walsh, Flynn, Gludovatz, Bernd, Asta, Mark, Minor, Andrew M., George, Easo P., and Ritchie, Robert O. Fri .
"Exceptional fracture toughness of CrCoNi-based medium- and high-entropy alloys at 20 kelvin". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abp8070. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1986007.
@article{osti_1986007,
title = {Exceptional fracture toughness of CrCoNi-based medium- and high-entropy alloys at 20 kelvin},
author = {Liu, Dong and Yu, Qin and Kabra, Saurabh and Jiang, Ming and Forna-Kreutzer, Paul and Zhang, Ruopeng and Payne, Madelyn and Walsh, Flynn and Gludovatz, Bernd and Asta, Mark and Minor, Andrew M. and George, Easo P. and Ritchie, Robert O.},
abstractNote = {Medium- and high-entropy alloys based on the CrCoNi-system have been shown to display outstanding strength, tensile ductility and fracture toughness (damage-tolerance properties), especially at cryogenic temperatures. Here we examine the JIc and (back-calculated) KJIc fracture toughness values of the face-centered cubic, equiatomic CrCoNi and CrMnFeCoNi alloys at 20 K. At flow stress values of ~1.5 GPa, crack-initiation KJIc toughnesses were found to be exceptionally high, respectively 235 and 415 MPa√m for CrMnFeCoNi and CrCoNi, with the latter displaying a crack-growth toughness Kss exceeding 540 MPa√m after 2.25 mm of stable cracking, which to our knowledge is the highest such value ever reported. Characterization of the crack-tip regions in CrCoNi by scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy reveal deformation structures at 20 K that are quite distinct from those at higher temperatures and involve heterogeneous nucleation, but restricted growth, of stacking faults and fine nanotwins, together with transformation to the hexagonal closed-packed phase. The coherent interfaces of these features can promote both the arrest and transmission of dislocations to generate respectively strength and ductility which strongly contributes to sustained strain hardening. Indeed, we believe that these nominally single-phase, concentrated solid-solution alloys develop their fracture resistance through a progressive synergy of deformation mechanisms, including dislocation glide, stacking-fault formation, nano-twinning and eventually in situ phase transformation, all of which serve to extend continuous strain hardening which simultaneously elevates strength and ductility (by delaying plastic instability), leading to truly exceptional resistance to fracture.},
doi = {10.1126/science.abp8070},
journal = {Science},
number = 6623,
volume = 378,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2022},
month = {Fri Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2022}
}
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