A Composition Design Strategy for Refractory High-Entropy Alloys.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Metallurgy
• Alloy Design

Background:

• Designing high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with specific properties is complex due to numerous composition possibilities.
• Existing methods for HEA composition optimization are time-consuming and lack efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel strategy for the rational design of strong, ductile, and low-weight refractory HEA (RHEA) compositions.
• To establish a method for predicting alloy properties based on composition for accelerated HEA development.

Main Methods:

• Experimental measurement of Young's moduli for three RHEAs using tensile and impulse excitation of vibration (IEV) tests.
• Validation of a predictive model for HEA elastic moduli using experimental data and literature values (~130 HEAs).
• Development of property maps based on 38,326 compositions to guide novel RHEA design.

Main Results:

• Successfully validated a predictive model for estimating alloy elastic moduli from composition.
• Designed and experimentally tested a novel RHEA with superior strength, ductility, and low density.
• The new RHEA outperformed the equimolar NbMoTaVW alloy in key properties.

Conclusions:

• The proposed strategy enables efficient design of RHEAs with desired properties.
• This approach accelerates the discovery of new advanced HEAs.
• Contributes to the development of next-generation refractory materials.