Microstructural characterisation of high-entropy alloy AlCoCrFeNi fabricated by laser engineered net shaping

Abstract

Laser engineered net shaping (LENS) was used to produce thin-walled samples of the high-entropy alloy AlCoCrFeNi from a prealloyed powder. To determine the effect of the cooling rate during solidification on the microstructure of the alloy, different laser scanning rates were used. A microstructural study of the surfaces of the sample walls was performed using X-ray diffraction analysis and optical and scanning/transmission electron microscopy. The crystal structure of the alloy was determined to be a body-centred cubic (bcc)-derivative B2-ordered type. The microstructure of the alloy produced by LENS was dendritic. Further, it was found that with an increase in the laser scanning rate from 2.5 to 40 mm s−1, the average grain size decreased from 108.3 ± 32.4 μm to 30.6 ± 9.2 μm. The maximum cooling rate achieved during the laser cladding of the alloy was 44 × 103 K s−1. The electron microscopy study of the alloy showed the presence of precipitates. The morphology of the disordered bcc (Fe, Cr)-rich precipitates in the ordered B2 (Al, Ni)-rich matrix changed in the dendritic and interdendritic regions from fine and spherical (with a diameter of less 100 nm) to spinodal (with the thickness being less than 100 nm). The LENS- produced AlCoCrFeNi alloy exhibited an average microhardness of approximately 543 HV0.5; this was approximately 13% higher than the hardness in the as-cast state and can be attributed to the grain refinemet in the LENS- produced alloy. Moreover, it was found that increasing the cooling rate during laser cladding increasess the microhardness of the alloy.