Phys.org August 20, 2021
An international team of researchers (China, USA – Argonne National Laboratory, University of Tennessee, Germany) has developed a new type of multi-principal element alloys (MPEA) called DS: EHEA (Directly Solidified: Eutectic High-Entropy Alloy) that features multiscale spatial heterogeneities using eutectic high-entropy alloys. They found that a particular aluminum-iron-cobalt-nickel dual-phase alloy solidified in a herringbone micropattern that was very highly resistant to fracturing. Its secret, they discovered, was in its hard and soft phases and the way cracks formed. Those that formed during the hard phase were stopped when they reached a border with a soft phase—the herringbone micropattern served to transfer stress. This gave the finished alloy not only very high resistance to fracture but a tripling of maximum elongation. The researchers suggest their approach could be used in a wide variety of applications that require eutectic high-entropy alloys…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Hierarchically arranged herringbone microstructure… Credit: Science 20 Aug 2021:Â Vol. 373, Issue 6557, pp. 912-918Â