Phase-Transformation Ductilization of Brittle High-Entropy Alloys via Metastability Engineering

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) in which interesting physical, chemical, and structural properties are being continuously revealed have recently attracted extensive attention. Body-centered cubic (bcc) HEAs, particularly those based on refractory elements are promising for high-temperature application but generally fail by early cracking with limited plasticity at room temperature, which limits their malleability and widespread uses. Here, the "metastability-engineering" strategy is exploited in brittle bcc HEAs via tailoring the stability of the constituent phases, and transformation-induced ductility and work-hardening capability are successfully achieved. This not only sheds new insights on the development of HEAs with excellent combination of strength and ductility, but also has great implications on overcoming the long-standing strength-ductility tradeoff of metallic materials in general.