In-Situ Study of Microstructure Evolution of Spinodal Decomposition in an Al-Rich High-Entropy Alloy

Cameron S. Jorgensen; Louis J. Santodonato; Kenneth C. Littrell; Chih Hsiang Kuo; Chanho Lee; Raymond R. Unocic; Peter K. Liaw; Dustin A. Gilbert; Lisa M. DeBeer-Schmitt

doi:10.3389/fmats.2022.827333

In-Situ Study of Microstructure Evolution of Spinodal Decomposition in an Al-Rich High-Entropy Alloy

Cameron S. Jorgensen, Louis J. Santodonato, Kenneth C. Littrell, Chih Hsiang Kuo, Chanho Lee, Raymond R. Unocic, Peter K. Liaw, Dustin A. Gilbert, Lisa M. DeBeer-Schmitt

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Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are materials which leverage the entropy of mixing to motivate the formation of single-phase solid solutions, even of immiscible elements. While these materials are well-recognized for their application to structural engineering, there is increasing interest in the use of HEAs for functional applications such as memory storage and energy devices. The current work investigates the HEA Al_1.3CoCrCuFeNi, which has been previously shown to be single-phase at high temperatures, but undergoes phase separation at lower temperatures, transforming the structural and the functional properties. This phase separation is investigated at high temperatures with in-situ small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (EDS). These techniques show that increasing the temperature up to 800°C, the microstructure of the HEA adiabatically disorders and abruptly homogenizes near 700°C, which is consistent with spinodal decomposition. Overall, the microstructural evolution proceeds mainly by the atomistic redistribution of the constituent elements within simple crystal lattices, producing coherent phase mixtures.

Original language	English
Article number	827333
Journal	Frontiers in Materials
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fmats.2022.827333
State	Published - Mar 25 2022

Funding

A portion of this research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The in-situ STEM experiments were conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). PL very much appreciates the supports from 1) the National Science Foundation (DMR-1611180 and 1809640) with program directors, J. Yang, G. Shiflet, and D. Farkas and 2) the US Army Research Office (W911NF-13–1-0438 and W911NF-19–2-0049) with program managers, M. P. Bakas, S. N. Mathaudhu, and D. M. Stepp.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation	DMR-1611180, 1809640
U.S. Department of Energy
Army Research Office	W911NF-13–1-0438, W911NF-19–2-0049

Keywords

SANS (small-angle neutron scattering)
high-entropy alloy (HEA)
in situ
microstructure
spinodal decomposition

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10.3389/fmats.2022.827333

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title = "In-Situ Study of Microstructure Evolution of Spinodal Decomposition in an Al-Rich High-Entropy Alloy",

abstract = "High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are materials which leverage the entropy of mixing to motivate the formation of single-phase solid solutions, even of immiscible elements. While these materials are well-recognized for their application to structural engineering, there is increasing interest in the use of HEAs for functional applications such as memory storage and energy devices. The current work investigates the HEA Al1.3CoCrCuFeNi, which has been previously shown to be single-phase at high temperatures, but undergoes phase separation at lower temperatures, transforming the structural and the functional properties. This phase separation is investigated at high temperatures with in-situ small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (EDS). These techniques show that increasing the temperature up to 800°C, the microstructure of the HEA adiabatically disorders and abruptly homogenizes near 700°C, which is consistent with spinodal decomposition. Overall, the microstructural evolution proceeds mainly by the atomistic redistribution of the constituent elements within simple crystal lattices, producing coherent phase mixtures.",

keywords = "SANS (small-angle neutron scattering), high-entropy alloy (HEA), in situ, microstructure, spinodal decomposition",

author = "Jorgensen, {Cameron S.} and Santodonato, {Louis J.} and Littrell, {Kenneth C.} and Kuo, {Chih Hsiang} and Chanho Lee and Unocic, {Raymond R.} and Liaw, {Peter K.} and Gilbert, {Dustin A.} and DeBeer-Schmitt, {Lisa M.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 Jorgensen, Santodonato, Littrell, Kuo, Lee, Unocic, Liaw, Gilbert and DeBeer-Schmitt.",

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doi = "10.3389/fmats.2022.827333",

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AU - Unocic, Raymond R.

AU - Liaw, Peter K.

AU - Gilbert, Dustin A.

AU - DeBeer-Schmitt, Lisa M.

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AB - High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are materials which leverage the entropy of mixing to motivate the formation of single-phase solid solutions, even of immiscible elements. While these materials are well-recognized for their application to structural engineering, there is increasing interest in the use of HEAs for functional applications such as memory storage and energy devices. The current work investigates the HEA Al1.3CoCrCuFeNi, which has been previously shown to be single-phase at high temperatures, but undergoes phase separation at lower temperatures, transforming the structural and the functional properties. This phase separation is investigated at high temperatures with in-situ small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (EDS). These techniques show that increasing the temperature up to 800°C, the microstructure of the HEA adiabatically disorders and abruptly homogenizes near 700°C, which is consistent with spinodal decomposition. Overall, the microstructural evolution proceeds mainly by the atomistic redistribution of the constituent elements within simple crystal lattices, producing coherent phase mixtures.

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In-Situ Study of Microstructure Evolution of Spinodal Decomposition in an Al-Rich High-Entropy Alloy

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