Editors: | F. Kongoli, R. Singh, F. Wang |
Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
Publication Year: | 2022 |
Pages: | 91 pages |
ISBN: | 978-1-989820-44-5(CD) |
ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
High entropy alloys are one of the advanced materials with five or more elements forming a single phase. Earlier studies have shown that these alloys get their advanced properties due to four core effects: (i) high entropy effect, (ii) severe lattice distortion effect, (iii) sluggish diffusion effect, and (iv) cocktail effect. The available HEAs mainly contain d-block elements, such as Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Ti, Mo, etc.
Microstructures, morphology, and distribution of constituent phases, like bi-modal microstructure, can improve the properties of materials to a great extent. In the last few years, the group of K. Ameyama of Ritsumeikan University, Japan, has come up with a new type of bi-modal microstructure, known as harmonic microstructure, where very fine and coarse grains distribute in a regular and periodic fashion [1]. It has been found that harmonic structured 316L stainless steel and 304L stainless steel show better corrosion resistance and wear resistance than their non-harmonic counterparts [2-5].
Our study deals with Cantor alloy (FeCrMnNiCo), whose grain size has been modified to harmonic microstructure. Scanning electron micrographs show the distinguished regions containing clusters of larger grains known as core and the network of fine grains known as shell. It has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction that a single FCC phase is present in the core and the shell regions. Corrosion properties of the Cantor alloy in simulated body fluid solutions are yet to be explored in literature. Hence, corrosion behavior has been carried out on the harmonic structured Cantor alloy and compared with its non-harmonic counterpart and harmonic structured 316L stainless steel, which is well known for its biological applications and harmonic structured 316L shows similar corrosion behavior but better wear resistance than the conventional 316L stainless steel. It has been found out in our study that the corrosion resistance of the harmonic structured Cantor alloy is greater than the non-harmonic one and comparable to that of the harmonic 316L stainless steel. Enrichment of Cr in the fine-grained shell region of harmonic structured Cantor alloy is attributed to the greater corrosion resistance of the alloy.