Direct observation of chemical short-range order in a medium-entropy alloy

Xuefei Chen, Qi Wang, Zhiying Cheng, Mingliu Zhu, Hao Zhou, Ping Jiang, Lingling Zhou, Qiqi Xue, Fuping Yuan, Jing Zhu (), Xiaolei Wu () and En Ma ()
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Xuefei Chen: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qi Wang: Science and Technology on Surface Physics and Chemistry Laboratory
Zhiying Cheng: Tsinghua University
Mingliu Zhu: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hao Zhou: Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Ping Jiang: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lingling Zhou: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qiqi Xue: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fuping Yuan: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jing Zhu: Tsinghua University
Xiaolei Wu: Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
En Ma: Xi’an Jiaotong University

Nature, 2021, vol. 592, issue 7856, 712-716

Abstract: Abstract Complex concentrated solutions of multiple principal elements are being widely investigated as high- or medium-entropy alloys (HEAs or MEAs)1–11, often assuming that these materials have the high configurational entropy of an ideal solution. However, enthalpic interactions among constituent elements are also expected at normal temperatures, resulting in various degrees of local chemical order12–22. Of the local chemical orders that can develop, chemical short-range order (CSRO) is arguably the most difficult to decipher and firm evidence of CSRO in these materials has been missing thus far16,22. Here we discover that, using an appropriate zone axis, micro/nanobeam diffraction, together with atomic-resolution imaging and chemical mapping via transmission electron microscopy, can explicitly reveal CSRO in a face-centred-cubic VCoNi concentrated solution. Our complementary suite of tools provides concrete information about the degree/extent of CSRO, atomic packing configuration and preferential occupancy of neighbouring lattice planes/sites by chemical species. Modelling of the CSRO order parameters and pair correlations over the nearest atomic shells indicates that the CSRO originates from the nearest-neighbour preference towards unlike (V−Co and V−Ni) pairs and avoidance of V−V pairs. Our findings offer a way of identifying CSRO in concentrated solution alloys. We also use atomic strain mapping to demonstrate the dislocation interactions enhanced by the CSROs, clarifying the effects of these CSROs on plasticity mechanisms and mechanical properties upon deformation.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03428-z

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