Tuning conventional alloys towards the high-entropy space: thermomagnetic and magnetocaloric behavior

Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEAs), based on the design concept of mixing five or more principal elements to yield high entropy of mixing (ΔSmix), expands the compositional space of multicomponent materials when compared to conventional materials, which are mainly based on one or two main constituents. HEAs, thus, form compositions without dominant elements, in which new materials with excellent properties, some of them being superior or unique compared to the conventional materials, have been found [1]. These advantages prompted a large surge in studying HEAs, with the explored compositions evolving from first-generation single phase equiatomic to second-generation multiphase non-equiatomic HEAs. The latter are recently reported with properties that outdo those of the first-generation HEAs, such as excellent strength-ductility combination, surpassing the low temperature limit, or enhanced magnetocaloric properties of rare-earth-free high-entropy alloys owing to a first-order magnetic phase transition [1-3]. Here, we present, when tuning CoCrMnNiTi alloys from conventional to the high-entropy region (i.e. ΔSmix > 1.5 R, where R is the gas contstant, 8.314 J mol-1 K-1), the evolution of their thermomagnetic and magnetocaloric behavior. The obtained HEA has a martensitic temperature tuned nearer to room temperature and a 10% increase in the entropy change (Fig. 1). This work demonstrates the recently proposed claim [1-3] that it is possible to obtain high-performance magnetocaloric materials within the HEA compositional space.Work supported by AEI/FEDER-UE (grant PID2019-105720RB-I00), US/JUNTA/FEDER-UE (grant US- 1260179), Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad de la Junta de Andalucía (grant P18-RT-746), Army Research Laboratory under Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF-19-2-0212 and Sevilla University under VI PPIT-US program.  Fig 1. The variation of martensitic transition temperatures (square symbols) and entropy change at the transition (circular symbols) after tuning a conventional alloy towards the high-entropy region (ΔSmix > 1.5 R).