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Electrosynthesis and Evaluation of Homogeneous CoCrNi Medium-Entropy Alloys for Structural Applications

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Abstract

Medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) have received increasing attention for various applications due to their excellent properties. This work demonstrates a facile electrolysis method to directly prepare homogeneous CoCrNi MEAs from mixed metal oxide precursors in molten CaCl2. The obtained CoCrNi MEAs with typical face-centered cubic structure show nodular particle morphology. The influences of electrolytic parameters on the cathodic samples were investigated, and the results show that tunable phase composition and particle size of the samples can be achieved by controlling the electrolysis time and temperature. The electrolytic intermediate samples have been systematically characterized and analyzed, and the electrochemical synthesis mechanism of CoCrNi MEAs has been proposed, which typically involves electrochemical deoxidation and in-situ alloying processes. Additionally, the electrochemically synthesized CoCrNi MEAs has been processed into bulk CoCrNi MEAs to further investigate and evaluate their mechanical properties for possible structural applications. The as-synthesized CoCrNi MEA shows the comparable yield strength, tensile strength, fracture elongation, and hardness of 994 MPa, 1183 MPa, 14 pct, and 412 Hv, respectively, exhibiting an excellent engineering strength-ductility combination.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52022054; 51974181; 52004157), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFC2906100), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M712023), the Shanghai Postdoctoral Excellence Program (No. 2021159), the Shanghai Sailing Program (No. 21YF1412900), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 21DZ1208900). The authors also thank the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning (No. TP2019041), and the “Shuguang Program” supported by the Shanghai Education Development Foundation and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No. 21SG42).

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  1. Zhongya Pang and Xueqiang Zhang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Special Steel & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Ferrometallurgy & School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, P.R. China

    Zhongya Pang, Xueqiang Zhang, Conghui Hu, Jinjian Li, Feng Tian, Guangshi Li, Xiaolu Xiong, Qian Xu, Zhongfu Zhou, Xionggang Lu & Xingli Zou

  2. Center for Hydrogen Metallurgy Technology, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, P.R. China

    Zhongya Pang, Xueqiang Zhang, Jinjian Li, Feng Tian, Guangshi Li, Xiaolu Xiong, Qian Xu, Xionggang Lu & Xingli Zou

  3. College of Materials and Metallurgy, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, P.R. China

    Chaoyi Chen

  4. School of Materials Science, Shanghai Dianji University, Shanghai, 201306, P.R. China

    Xionggang Lu

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Pang, Z., Zhang, X., Hu, C. et al. Electrosynthesis and Evaluation of Homogeneous CoCrNi Medium-Entropy Alloys for Structural Applications. Metall Mater Trans B 54, 2824–2839 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-023-02877-3

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