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Phase evolution of refractory high-entropy alloy CrMoNbTiW during mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering

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  • Nanocrystalline High Entropy Materials: Processing Challenges and Properties
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Abstract

In the present study, the phase evolution and microstructure of CrMoNbTiW, a new equi-atomic refractory high-entropy alloy, are studied. The alloy was synthesized through mechanical alloying (MA) followed by consolidation using spark plasma sintering. After MA, a major BCC solid solution along with residual Cr and Nb were observed. However, secondary phases such as Laves and carbides were also observed in addition to the major BCC solid solution after sintering. Unsolicited contamination from the milling media is found to be one of the reasons for the formation of secondary phases. The high hardness of 8.9 GPa after sintering was attributed to the presence of secondary phases along with the nanocrystalline nature of the alloy. To understand the phase evolution, calculation of phase diagram was carried out using CALPHAD. Further, binary phase diagram inspection and simple empirical parameters were also used to assess their effectiveness in predicting phases.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank ISRO-IITM cell for the financial support through the project ICSR/ISRO-IITM/MET/13-14/150/BSMT. The authors are grateful to Ms. Dilpreet Danjal (former B.Tech student, NIT Rourkela), Mr. Adil Shaik (MS scholar, IIT Madras), Mr. G. Karthick, Mr. N.T.B.N. Koundinya, Dr. Soumya Sridar (Ph.D. students, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at IIT Madras) and Dr. Niraj Chawake (former Ph.D. student, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at IIT Madras) for their valuable suggestions and discussion. The authors thank NFAPT team for their assistance in the EBSD analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Lavanya Raman, K. Guruvidyathri, Geeta Kumari, Ravi Sankar Kottada & B. S. Murty

  2. High Entropy Materials Center, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan

    K. Guruvidyathri

  3. Materials and Metallurgy Group, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivandrum, 695022, India

    S. V. S. Narayana Murty

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  1. Lavanya Raman
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Correspondence to Lavanya Raman, Ravi Sankar Kottada or B. S. Murty.

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Raman, L., Guruvidyathri, K., Kumari, G. et al. Phase evolution of refractory high-entropy alloy CrMoNbTiW during mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. Journal of Materials Research 34, 756–766 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.483

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