Development and production of ductile TiZrNbHfTa refractory high entropy alloy system for extreme environments

2022-1-13
İroç, Lütfi Koray
High entropy alloy (HEA) is a trending material class that was discovered in the early 2000s. By definition, it consists of a single or dual phase by combining 5-13 elements with a 5-35% atomic ratio. They exhibit extraordinary properties, such as structural, mechanical, corrosive and thermal. Moreover, this field gives an opportunity to combine infinite number of elements with infinite compositions. These properties and opportunities make them candidates for various extreme application areas, which will grow further in the future. Among the HEAs, Refractory High Entropy Alloys (RHEAs) are considered as future materials for high-temperature and nuclear applications due to their thermal stability and high-temperature mechanical properties. This study focuses on improving structural and mechanical properties and understanding the high-temperature and irradiated characteristics of RHEAs. By using CALPHAD modeling and thermophysical parameter optimization, two alloys were designed as oxygen-doped and undoped compositions. These alloys were produced by vacuum arc melting (VAM), and the structural characterization was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It has been found that both alloys consist of a single solid solution with BCC structure without any ordered phase, as designed. Besides, micro-indentation was performed to understand their hardness. It has been observed that oxygen-doped and undoped alloys exhibit hardness values of 440HV and 321HV, respectively and oxygen-doped alloy exhibited 1240 MPa compressive yield strength with a ductile behavior. The high-temperature behavior of promising oxygen-doped alloy is investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), in-situ XRD and TEM analyses. The results revealed that oxygen-doped RHEA contains a single BCC structure above 1000 °C without any metallic oxide. Also, oxygen doping does not make any significant structural or morphological difference compared to undoped alloy, similar to the simulation results. Eventually, considering the room temperature structure and mechanical improvements of oxygen-doping, the results are encouraging for the high-temperature applications of oxygen-doped RHEAs. Finally, to understand the radiation resistance, the oxygen-doped alloy is irradiated at three dosages (3, 10 and 30 dpa) and two temperatures (room temperature and 450 °C). Radiation effects are investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoindentation. Mechanical and dislocation loops analyses revealed that there is no phase transformation, structural change, void formation as well as low hardening for all conditions. The observed high resistance under radiation makes oxygen-doped RHEA a good candidate for nuclear applications.

Suggestions

Design of oxygen-doped TiZrHfNbTa refractory high entropy alloys with enhanced strength and ductility
Iroc, L.K.; Tukac, O.U.; Tanrisevdi, B.B.; El-Atwani, O.; Tunes, M.A.; Kalay, Yunus Eren; Aydoğan Güngör, Eda (2022-11-01)
© 2022Refractory high entropy alloys (RHEAs) are considered promising materials for high-temperature applications due to their thermal stability and high-temperature mechanical properties. However, most RHEAs have high density (>10 g/cm3) and exhibit limited ductility at low temperatures and softening at high temperatures. In this study, we show that oxygen-doping can be used as a new alloy design strategy for tailoring the mechanical behavior of the TiZrHfNbTa alloy: a novel low-density (7.98 g/cm3) ductil...
Development and thermal stability of Cr10Mo25Ta25Ti15V25 refractory high entropy alloys
Tukac, O. Umut; Özalp, Ali; Aydoğan Güngör, Eda (2023-01-01)
Refractory high entropy alloys (RHEAs) are promising materials for extreme environment applications, such as high-temperatures (> 1000 degrees C), corrosion and irradiation. In this study, a new CrMoTaTiV RHEA system has been designed using CALPHAD modeling and thermophysical parameter optimization, and produced by vacuum arc melting. Microstructure at room temperature as well as microstructural stability and me-chanical properties at high temperature have been investigated. It has been found that BCC alloy...
Development of Inorganic Silicone Polymers from Silica Fume
Erdoğan, Sinan Turhan; Tokyay, Mustafa (2012-10-05)
Geopolymers, inorganic materials with polymer-like repeating units containing silicon, aluminum, and oxygen, in 1-, 2-, or 3-dimensions, have been gaining popularity. While most research has focused on rigid, higher- strength geopolymers with mechanical properties similar to those of Portland cement concrete, there also exists a silicon-rich class of geopolymers which is more polymer-like, with lower strength and stiffness, and greater strain capacity but still having thermal resistance much superior to tra...
Fabrication of SiO2-stacked diamond membranes and their characteristics for microelectromechanical applications
Bayram, Barış (Elsevier BV, 2011-04-01)
Diamond is a promising microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) material due to its high Young's Modulus and very large thermal conductivity. In this work, ultrananocrystalline diamond was stacked between silicon dioxide to form thermally-stable and robust membranes. These SiO2-stacked diamond layers were processed into MEMS-compatible membranes. For comparison, membranes composed of only SiO2 were fabricated as well. The structural characteristics of these membranes are compared and analyzed for membranes of ...
Synthesis and Characterization of Zirconium based Bulk Amorphous Alloys
Saltoğlu, İlkay; Akdeniz, Mahmut Vedat; Mehrabov, Amdulla (2005-09-28)
In recent years, bulk amorphous alloys and nanocrystalline materials have been synthesized in a number of ferrous and non-ferrous based alloys systems, which have gained some applications due to their unique physico-chemical and mechanical properties. In the last decade, Zr-based alloys with a wide supercooled liquid region and excellent glass forming ability have been discovered. These systems have promising application fields due to their mechanical properties; high tensile strength, high fracture toughne...
Citation Formats
L. K. İroç, “Development and production of ductile TiZrNbHfTa refractory high entropy alloy system for extreme environments,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.