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On the Room-Temperature Mechanical Properties of an Ion-Irradiated TiZrNbHfTa Refractory High Entropy Alloy

  • Advanced Characterization and Testing of Irradiated Materials
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Abstract

Refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs) are potential candidate materials for use in next-generation nuclear reactors due to their excellent mechanical performance at high temperatures. Here, we investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of the nanocrystalline RHEA TiZrNbHfTa before and after irradiation with He2+ ions to determine radiation-induced property changes. Using nanoindentation and in situ microtensile testing we find only small changes in hardness after irradiation but a significant increase in yield and ultimate tensile strength without loss in ductility. This is associated with radiation hardening and a shift from shear localization failure with smooth fracture surfaces to a fracture morphology consisting of fine dimples and intergranular failure characteristics. Overall, the material shows excellent damage-tolerant properties with good combinations of strength and ductility both prior to and after ion irradiation.

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Notes

  1. The indenter-induced plastic zone is estimated using Rplastic/dindent = 8, where Rplastic is the plastic zone radius and dindent is the indent depth.29

  2. It should be noted that our reported failure strains have been extracted from the DIC measurements of images taken intermittently and hence slightly underestimate the actual failure strain.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in providing expertise and facilities critical to this work—with special thanks to Colin Hobman for fabrication of testing equipment, Joel Davis for his support in preparing TEM specimens in the FIB, Ken Short for his help with nanoindentation, Tao Wei for performing the ion irradiation experiments, and the Centre for Accelerator Science for use of the 2 MV STAR tandem accelerator. In addition, the authors thank Microscopy Australia at the Electron Microscope Unit within the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre at UNSW Sydney for technical assistance and use of their facilities. Additionally, M.M. would like to express gratitude for the financial support provided by the Australian Government [Award: Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship] and by the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Limited [Award: Residential Student Scholarship (RSS)] who made this research possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Michael Moschetti, Jamie J. Kruzic & Bernd Gludovatz

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Alan Xu & Dhriti Bhattacharyya

  3. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW, 2234, Australia

    Alan Xu & Dhriti Bhattacharyya

  4. Erich-Schmid-Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Benjamin Schuh

  5. Department of Materials Science, Chair of Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Anton Hohenwarter

  6. Université Paris Est, ICMPE (UMR 7182), CNRS, UPEC, 94320, Thiais, France

    Jean-Philippe Couzinié

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  1. Michael Moschetti
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Moschetti, M., Xu, A., Schuh, B. et al. On the Room-Temperature Mechanical Properties of an Ion-Irradiated TiZrNbHfTa Refractory High Entropy Alloy. JOM 72, 130–138 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-019-03861-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-019-03861-6

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