Computational thermodynamics aided high-entropy alloy design

Abstract

Thermodynamic calculation is used to shed light on the design and development of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) in this article. A thermodynamic database for the Al-Co-Cr-Fe-Ni was developed, and phase diagrams of this system were calculated. The calculated results, such as primary solidified phases, which are fractions of stable phases at a given alloy composition, explain the published experimental observations fairly well for both as-cast and homogenized alloys. These calculations also confirm the effect of each element on the face-centered cubic (fcc)/body-centered cubic (bcc) structure transition as published in the literature. The role of thermodynamic calculation in aiding effective design of HEAs is clearly demonstrated by this work. © 2012 TMS.