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Characterization of chemical local ordering and heterogeneity in high-entropy alloys

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Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) demonstrate unique mechanical properties applicable for various engineering applications. They were originally regarded as ideal solutions, where a random distribution of constituent elements is expected. However, recently, increasingly more investigations have revealed the common existence of local chemical ordering and heterogeneity in a wide range of alloy systems, which can play an important role in tuning the mechanical properties of these alloys. Therefore, the characterization of these deviations from the ideal solution assumption is necessary for the understanding of the structure–properties relationships in HEAs. This article summarizes the efforts to observe the local chemical fluctuations in HEAs with brief discussions on their effects. A short perspective for future studies is provided at the end.

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Acknowledgments

R.Z. acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under Contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231 within the Damage-Tolerance in Structural Materials (KC 13) program. Q.Y. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51671168 and 51871197), National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFA0208200), and the National 111 Project (Grant No. B16042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA

    Ruopeng Zhang

  2. Center of Electron Microscopy and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Yujie Chen, Yan Fang & Qian Yu

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  1. Ruopeng Zhang
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Zhang, R., Chen, Y., Fang, Y. et al. Characterization of chemical local ordering and heterogeneity in high-entropy alloys. MRS Bulletin 47, 186–193 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-022-00277-7

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