This project will study low-cycle-fatigue behavior of a new class of multi-component alloys called high-entropy alloys. These alloys have attracted huge attention in recent five years for their unique mechanical properties. The transformative potential of the present work is represented as a systematic and innovative investigation for structural characterization experiments, thus revealing the deformation mechanisms under cyclic loading and integrating the design, fabrication, verification, improvement, and prediction components, which can be applied for the studies of other advanced materials in the future. Students and researchers involved in this project will have opportunities to experience the state-of-the-art research equipment at the national laboratories. The outreach activities will include the K-12 science education, minority involvement, and efforts to engage the public. The results of the project will be disseminated through avenues accessible to the scientific community and to the general public with an emphasis on middle- and high-school students, as well as women and minority students. Appropriate aspects of the research results will be incorporated into the principal investigator's (PI's) graduate and undergraduate course materials to introduce students to modern interdisciplinary materials research.
The goal of this project is to (1) study the low-cycle fatigue (LCF) behavior of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) by varying the structures (e.g., controlling the Al content), (2) clarify the deformation mechanisms of HEAs during LCF using state-of-art characterization methods (e.g., advanced microscopy and in-situ neutron diffraction), and (3) based on the fundamental understanding of the deformation behavior obtained from the present work, design and develop innovative HEAs with excellent LCF properties. HEAs attract huge attention in recent five years for their unique and excellent mechanical properties. Even though extensive studies have been devoted to the mechanical behavior,most of these research activities are for monotonic tests and almost none has focused on the fatigue properties, especially LCF. The mechanism of fatigue behavior must be examined carefully before HEAs can indeed be introduced in practical applications. The critical issues, thus, become obvious: (1) how do the multi-principal elements affect structures, and further, fatigue properties; (2) how does the high-entropy configuration influence the deformation mechanism; and (3) if the above two aspects have positive effects on the fatigue resistance, what are the fundamental contributing factors. Accordingly, a hypothesis is proposed and to be tested in the present work that HEAs with some specific compositions (i.e., structures) will show superior fatigue resistance over traditional alloys due to (1) great tendency to form twins, (2) solute atoms and large distortion from the element-size mismatch to pin dislocations, and (3) the interaction between dislocation and twinning, before fatigue-crack initiation and during crack propagation at room and elevated temperatures, and their long-term performance can be modulated and further improved by cold or hot treatment (e.g., cold rolling to control grain size). It is expected that the mechanism of LCF behavior could be revealed by a combination of the proposed experimental, theoretical, and modeling efforts, thus providing the fundamental understanding of the deformation behavior for single- and multiple-phase HEAs.
