A CrCoNi medium entropy alloy thin film is fabricated using magnetron sputtering. It exhibits a unique hierarchical nanostructure, featuring (1) a high density of planar defects (mostly stacking faults plus a small number of twin boundaries), (2) a dual-phase configuration (a mix of face-centred-cubic and hexagonal-close-packed), and (3) vertically aligned, textured nanocolumns, each with a width of ∼100 nm. The hierarchical nanostructure in this study is original, especially for its dual phase combination, since the bulk CrCoNi medium entropy alloy generally presents a single phase face-centred-cubic structure. The CrCoNi film shows a hardness quadruple that of its face-centred-cubic structured counterpart. The formation and its role of the hierarchical nanostructure in producing such mechanical strength are discussed.
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20 August 2018
Research Article|
August 23 2018
Hierarchical nanostructure of CrCoNi film underlying its remarkable mechanical strength
Yujie Chen;
Yujie Chen
a)
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide
, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: yujie.chen@adelaide.edu.au and zonghan.xie@adelaide.edu.au
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Zhifeng Zhou;
Zhifeng Zhou
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong
, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
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Paul Munroe;
Paul Munroe
3
School of Materials Science and Engineering, UNSW
, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
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Zonghan Xie
Zonghan Xie
a)
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide
, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
4
School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University
, Perth, WA 6027, Australia
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: yujie.chen@adelaide.edu.au and zonghan.xie@adelaide.edu.au
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a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: yujie.chen@adelaide.edu.au and zonghan.xie@adelaide.edu.au
Appl. Phys. Lett. 113, 081905 (2018)
Article history
Received:
May 30 2018
Accepted:
August 13 2018
Citation
Yujie Chen, Zhifeng Zhou, Paul Munroe, Zonghan Xie; Hierarchical nanostructure of CrCoNi film underlying its remarkable mechanical strength. Appl. Phys. Lett. 20 August 2018; 113 (8): 081905. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5042148
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