A lightweight refractory complex concentrated alloy with high strength and uniform ductility. (June 2022) - Jia, Yuefei
Highlights: A two-step method was adopted for overcoming the strength-ductility-lightweight trade-off. High solution strengthening together with precipitation simultaneously operated in the MICPs-LRCCM. High specific strength and sufficient ductility of MICPs-LRCCM are achieved at both ambient and moderate temperatures. Abstract: Advanced alloys with lightweight, gigapascal strength, and sufficient ductility are vitally crucial for engineering applications. However, the intrinsic conflicts between strength and ductility or strength and density cause a big challenge to improve the comprehensive performance of alloys. In the current study, we adopt a two-step method to overcome this trade-off by tailoring the atomic mixing of lightweight elements and refractory elements to form a lightweight refractory complex concentrated alloy (LRCCA). Then, a lightweight, high-strength, intrinsically ductile complex concentrated matrix (LRCCM) alloy is developed, modified with nano/submicron multicomponent intermetallic compound particles (MICPs). The developed MICPs-LRCCM exhibits a high yield strength, sufficient ductility and a relative low density (∼5.9 g/cm 3 ), as well as high specific strength of ∼230 MPa·cm 3 /g. High solution strengthening together with precipitation are simultaneously operated in the MICPs-LRCCM. Our results provide a guidance for designing high-performance lightweight alloys for structural applications. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract