Evolution of microstructure and crystallographic texture in severely cold rolled high entropy equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi alloy during annealing

Abstract

An equiatomic FCC CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy (HEA) was heavily cold rolled up to 90% reduction in thickness followed by isochronal annealing for 1 hour at temperatures ranging between 700°C to 1100°C. A strong brass texture was observed in the cold-rolled condition indicating the low stacking fault energy of the material. A fine stable microstructure was observed during annealing at low temperatures. The recrystallization texture was characterized by the presence of deformation texture components, in particular, the α-fiber (ND//<110>), S ({123} <634>) and the typical brass recrystallization texture component ({236} <385>). Annealing twins were shown to have important effect on the formation of annealing texture.