Tungsten doping enhances the mechanical properties of FeCr2V-based medium entropy alloy revealed by experiments and calculations

Publication Name

Journal of Alloys and Compounds

Abstract

The medium entropy alloys (MEAs) composed of high-melting-point, low-activation elements often demonstrate favorable mechanical properties and reduced activation required for nuclear applications. In this work, novel low activation MEAs of FeCr2V and FeCr2VW0.1 as potential nuclear structural materials have been developed. Thermodynamic calculation was used to guide the MEA design. The materials were fabricated using arc melting and their microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The results show that the developed MEAs are characterized by a dual-phase microstructure consisting of both body-centered-cubic (BCC) phases. The as-fabricated FeCr2VW0.1 exhibits improved hardness (average nano-hardness 9.6 GPa) compared with FeCr2V (7.4 GPa), owing to the enhanced solid solution strengthening (SSS) and precipitation strengthening (PS). Meanwhile, after doping with W, the compressive ultimate strength and yield strength of MEAs increased by about 15.7 % and 13.7 %, respectively. Being quantitatively consistent with the experimental results, the first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) and the theoretical strengthening calculations confirmed that the W doping into FeCr2V based MEA significantly enhanced the SSS and PS in the studied alloy. The results provide insights that are useful for future development and microstructural engineering of these novel MEAs.

Open Access Status

This publication is not available as open access

Volume

940

Article Number

168861

Funding Number

M17469

Funding Sponsor

Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2023.168861