International Journal of Plasticity最新文献

{"title":"Particle pinning effect on grain boundary and double peak-aging characteristic in a hot-extruded Mg-Zn-based alloy","authors":"Wei Liu ,&nbsp;Kaile Wang ,&nbsp;Yuntao Zhang ,&nbsp;Chuan Shuai ,&nbsp;Taoze Xie ,&nbsp;Wenyu Liu ,&nbsp;Hua Hou ,&nbsp;Yuhong Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104324","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104324","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To overcome bottleneck of strength-ductility trade-off is a challenge in Mg-Zn-based alloys. In this work, we develop an age-hardening Mg-1.0Zn-0.1Ca-0.1Al-0.1Mn (wt. %) hot-extruded alloy with better strength-ductility synergy by synergistic heterostructure and nanoprecipitate, exhibiting a tensile yield strength of 352 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength of 413 MPa and an elongation of 15.2 %, respectively. Besides, dynamic recrystallization and dynamic precipitation at different die angles (30° and 90°) and extrusion temperatures (220 °C, 235 °C and 250 °C), and aging precipitation are systematically investigated. Particle pinning effect on grain boundary (GB) considering particle radius and strengthening effects are further clarified. Firstly, under large die angle (90°) and low extrusion temperature (220 °C), typical heterostructure containing recrystallized regions and non-recrystallized regions is achieved due to significant particle pinning effect of nanoscale Ca₂Mg₆Zn₃ and Al₈Mn₅ particles, and solute dragging effect of Zn and Ca elements on GB. Phase-field simulation and experimental validation showing the evolution of bow-shape GB under significant particle pinning force during the particle-GB interaction. Meanwhile, the phase-field simulations show that the maximum particle pinning force is enhanced as increasing of the particle radius. Secondly, upon ageing at 180 °C, a distinct double peak-aging characteristic emerges in the hetero-structured Mg-1.0Zn-0.1Ca-0.1Al-0.1Mn hot-extruded alloy. The first ageing peak mainly arises from the precipitation of GP zones, while the second ageing peak primarily originates from the co-precipitation of β₁’ and β₂’ phases. Finally, hetero-deformation induced strengthening, nanoprecipitate-reinforced Orowan strengthening and deformation coordination by twins and non-basal slips contribute to the strength-ductility synergy. These results provide valuable insights for developing high-performance Mg-Zn-based alloys.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"189 ","pages":"Article 104324"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143766636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ultra-high temperature diffusion in multi-principal element alloys: Experiment, simulation and theory","authors":"Fusheng Tan ,&nbsp;Zijie Shi ,&nbsp;Quanfeng He ,&nbsp;Bin Liu ,&nbsp;Ao Fu ,&nbsp;Zecheng Wu ,&nbsp;Zhenbo Wang ,&nbsp;Peter K. Liaw ,&nbsp;Jia Li ,&nbsp;Yong Yang ,&nbsp;Qihong Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) have garnered significant attention due to their exceptional performance under extreme conditions such as high temperatures and irradiation, yet their diffusion behavior and mechanisms at elevated temperatures remain elusive. In this work, we investigate the diffusivity of a Ni_xCoCr alloy system under high temperature conditions as a model for MPEAs. Our findings reveal that, the alloys with high mixing entropy exhibit unexpectedly diffusivity at ultra-high temperatures, challenging the conventional wisdom that diffusion in high-entropy alloys is typically sluggish. Based on tight-binging model, it is revealed that severe lattice distortion and electron interaction in high-entropy systems markedly weaken the atomic bonding strength. This phenomenon significantly reduces the vacancy formation energy and substantially increases the vacancy concentration especially at high temperature, thereby counteracting the inhibitory effect of reduced vacancy jump frequency on diffusion due to lattice distortion. This discovery not only provides new insights into the diffusion mechanisms of high-entropy alloys under extreme conditions but also holds significant implications for the design and optimization of high-performance materials suitable for extreme environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104322"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143736356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deformation behavior and strengthening mechanisms of high-entropy alloys under high strain rate across wide temperature ranges","authors":"Keyan Wang ,&nbsp;Zijian Cheng ,&nbsp;Changyu Liu ,&nbsp;Haiping Yu ,&nbsp;Zhiliang Ning ,&nbsp;Parthiban Ramasamy ,&nbsp;Jürgen Eckert ,&nbsp;Jianfei Sun ,&nbsp;Yongjiang Huang ,&nbsp;Yanming Zhang ,&nbsp;Alfonso H.W. Ngan","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104321","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104321","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study systematically investigates the deformation mechanism and strengthening effects of the CoCrFeNiMn_0.75Cu_0.25 high-entropy alloy (HEA) under dynamic tensile loading across a wide temperature range (93 K to 1073 K). The HEA exhibits a ∼30 % enhancement in strength and ductility at 93 K relative to its performance at 298 K. These superior properties result from the synergistic interactions among deformation bands, stacking faults, multiscale twinning, dislocations, and Lomer-Cottrell (L-C) locks, which enhance work hardening and delay fracture. At 873 K, dislocation slip becomes dominant, and dynamic recovery is activated, facilitating stress redistribution and more uniform macroscopic deformation. At 1073 K, discontinuous dynamic recrystallization occurs within deformation bands, producing refined grains that redistribute stress and maintain elongation above 60 %, ensuring superior plasticity despite thermal softening. These findings indicate that temperature strongly influences microstructural evolution, with thermally activated dislocation motion, recovery, and recrystallization playing critical roles in determining the deformation response at high strain rates. This study provides new insights into the temperature-dependent strengthening mechanisms in HEAs, which have implications for the development of advanced materials for extreme environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"189 ","pages":"Article 104321"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143723415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Superior strength-ductility synergy of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys achieved by regulating solute clusters and precipitates: Experimental validation and numerical simulation","authors":"Li-Wen Xue ,&nbsp;Hai-Long Jia ,&nbsp;Jin-Kai Wang ,&nbsp;Min Zha ,&nbsp;Shen-Bao Jin ,&nbsp;Hui-Yuan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104320","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104320","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this work, a double-stage aging (i.e., pre-aging plus second-aging) strategy has been conducted on an Al-8Si-2Cu-0.5Mg alloy to comprehensively investigate the formation of solute clusters during pre-aging and their impact on the subsequent precipitation behavior during second-aging. Particularly, strengthening and toughening mechanisms for enhanced mechanical properties of the double-stage aged (DA) Al-8Si-2Cu-0.5Mg alloy have been revealed in comparison to the single-stage aged (SA) counterpart. A combination of Cs-corrected transmission electron microscope (TEM), atom probe tomography (APT), first-principles calculations and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations is employed. The results reveal a marked tendency for Mg-Si-Cu cluster formation during pre-aging. This cluster growth is accompanied by preferential Mg enrichment within the clusters, i.e., the Mg:(Si+Cu) ratio of clusters shows an increasing trend during second-aging at 165 °C. This results in a high density of both Mg-Si-Cu clusters and mixed sub-unit precipitates in the peak-aged DA Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloy, which demonstrates a superior synergy of strength and ductility. The yield strength (YS) of both the peak-aged SA and DA alloys are nearly identical (∼295 MPa), while the elongation (EL) of the peak-aged DA alloy (∼14.2 %) is superior to that of the peak-aged SA alloy (∼9.2 %). MD simulations elucidate the toughening mechanism, i.e., Mg-Si-Cu clusters and mixed sub-unit precipitates induce weak stress concentrations, present a viable option for optimizing the strength-ductility balance. This research provides valuable insights into the microstructure evolution of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys during aging treatments, offering potential avenues for strength-ductility synergy of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104320"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143703288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strain gradient-induced size effect of Nickel-Titanium shape memory alloys","authors":"Jae-Hoon Choi ,&nbsp;Hyemin Ryu ,&nbsp;Ji-Young Kim ,&nbsp;Kwang-Hyeok Lim ,&nbsp;Gi-Dong Sim","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104309","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104309","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates size effect in nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloys (SMAs), focusing on their elastic deformation and phase transformation behaviors. A series of experiments, including bulk-scale tension tests, micro-scale tension, compression, and cantilever bending tests, were conducted to observe the effect of specimen dimensions on SMA behavior. Micro-scale tension and compression tests unveiled a notable asymmetry in the phase transformation stress, irrespective of specimen dimensions. Moreover, micro-cantilever bending tests, spanning a thickness range from <span><math><mrow><mn>1.9</mn></mrow></math></span> to <span><math><mrow><mn>21.0</mn><mspace></mspace><mrow><mi>μ</mi><mi>m</mi></mrow></mrow></math></span>, revealed a significant increase in both the effective elastic modulus and phase transformation stress as the beam thickness decreased. A constitutive model has been developed to address the tension/compression asymmetry and size effect based on couple stress theory, and implemented in finite element analysis of beam structures. Finally, experimental results were compared with simulation outcomes, and the deformation mechanisms responsible for size effect were discussed. The growing prominence of SMAs in micro/nano-scale applications highlights the necessity of understanding and accounting for size effect. Therefore, developing the capability to measure and simulate size effect is crucial for ensuring the effective utilization of SMAs in these scales.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104309"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143695298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A texture-dependent yield criterion based on Support Vector Classification","authors":"Jan Schmidt ,&nbsp;Surya R. Kalidindi ,&nbsp;Alexander Hartmaier","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104311","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104311","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Conventional yield criteria for anisotropic plasticity rely on linear transformations of the stress tensor to map the directional dependence of critical stress tensors at yield onset onto a unit sphere in stress space. These linear transformations are made material specific by a number of anisotropic parameters, which need to be determined by experimental procedures for each material. One drawback of this approach is that these anisotropic parameters cannot be explicitly expressed as functions of the crystallographic texture. Hence, any change in the texture of a material, as it occurs during cold deformation, requires a complete re-parametrization of the yield function. In this work, we present a data-oriented yield criterion based on Support Vector Classification (SVC) that is an explicit function of the crystallographic texture. This texture-dependency is achieved by including the coefficients of the general spherical harmonics (GSH) series expansion of the orientation distribution function (ODF) to the feature space of the machine learning model. The capabilities of the proposed yield criterion are demonstrated by training the model on a dataset containing micromechanical data from over 8000 distinct cubic-orthorhombic textures. The trained SVC combines the efficiency of classical phenomenological models with the flexibility of elaborate CP models. It provides a path to efficient hierarchical materials modeling as the anisotropy of the macroscopic yield onset is explicitly linked to the crystallographic texture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104311"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143695299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Statistical evaluation of microscale stress conditions leading to void nucleation in the weak shock regime","authors":"Noah J. Schmelzer ,&nbsp;Evan J. Lieberman ,&nbsp;Nan Chen ,&nbsp;Samuel D. Dunham ,&nbsp;Veronica Anghel ,&nbsp;George T. Gray III ,&nbsp;Curt A. Bronkhorst","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104318","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the heterogeneity of the stress state driven by anisotropic deformation response at the single crystal level through five statistical volume element (SVE) calculations of polycrystalline BCC tantalum. This work focuses on grain boundaries as a prominent material defect type prone to void nucleation based upon experimental observations of predominantly intergranular void nucleation in this material. The SVEs are constructed to be statistically representative of larger volumes of material and are meshed such that mean and standard deviation of grain size and orientation information is reconstructed. The computational meshes feature hexahedral (brick) elements and smooth conformal grain boundaries where significant stress concentration is known to occur, a tail effect of interest in the extreme events process of dynamic ductile damage. An existing micromechanical crystallographic plasticity model shown to capture the single crystal behavior of BCC tantalum well is used to perform the polycrystal calculations. The model includes representation of the non-Schmid effect of non-planar screw dislocation kinetics in tantalum. A three-dimensional stress state time profile predicted by damage modeling of a flyer plate impact experiment is applied as boundary conditions to each SVE. Resulting grain boundary stress state statistics are strongly non-Gaussian. Significant structural evolution is observed within the compressive hold before unloading into tension in the stress profile. Strong angular dependence of grain boundary traction magnitude with shock direction is observed. Non-Schmid effects continue to suggest their influence on propensity of microstructural defect types to nucleate voids. A general void nucleation criterion is proposed using probability theory. The general framework is specified to polycrystalline BCC tantalum in the weak shock regime to include the SVE calculations and literature molecular dynamics calculations of grain boundary void nucleation strength. Probability density functions (PDFs) are used to describe the interaction between the local stress state heterogeneity and the distributed grain boundary void nucleation strength state. A causation entropy maximization procedure removes the requirement for ad hoc selection of a PDF functional form and provides a rigorous procedure for data-based PDF determination. The resulting physically informed PDF describes the spatial appearance frequency of nucleated voids as a function of applied macroscale pressure. Lower length scale physics are thus packaged in a precise and computationally efficient way to provide computational plasticity insight to macroscale dynamic ductile damage models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104318"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phase-specific tailoring strategy for synergetic and prolonged work hardening to achieve superior strength-plasticity in lamellar-structured alloy","authors":"Yumeng Zhang ,&nbsp;Ran Chen ,&nbsp;Yixuan Hu ,&nbsp;Chenyang Wang ,&nbsp;Yao Shen ,&nbsp;Xiaodong Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104317","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104317","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The pursuit of alloys that integrate high strength and substantial plasticity persists across various industries. Nevertheless, alloys engineered for elevated strength commonly manifest unsustainable work hardening, ultimately leading to a decline in plasticity. Dual- or even multi-phase systems offer vast potential for novel microstructural engineering aimed at harmonizing these inversely related property requirements. Here, heterogeneous lamellar structure consisting of alternating austenite and ferrite lamellae is explored to decouple and leverage the distinct roles of individual phases in a dual-phase system. This phase-specific tailoring strategy meticulously manipulates intra-phase microstructure, and tunes the lamella thickness to promote both high initial strength and prolonged work hardening. The significantly enhanced strength benefits from pre-existing defects, interfaces strengthening and quasi isostrain deformation mode while high plasticity originates from relatively uniform strain partitioning between phases across a wide strain range achieved through exploiting various hardening components. For austenite, prolonged work hardening is achieved by sequential utilization of dislocation hardening followed by martensitic transformation hardening. Moreover, the martensite laths in favorable configuration along with the retained austenite contribute to retarding cracking. For ferrite, wide-range work hardening is ensured by expanding the potential for dislocation activities which lowers initial density and raises peak density through reducing the space in the thickness dimension. Such innovation elevates the traditionally inferior work-hardening capability of high-strength BCC structure to an exceptional level. The resultant alloy, while boosting nearly twice the yield strength of its conventional counterpart, exhibits a total elongation of 45 %. This strategy holds potential for broad application across dual- and multi-phase systems and proposes a new avenue for enhancing plasticity in high-strength lamellar-structured alloys.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104317"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deformation mechanism of non-textured and basal-textured polycrystalline Mg alloys: A coupled crystal plasticity-twinning phase field simulation","authors":"Jiachen Hu ,&nbsp;Bo Xu ,&nbsp;Junyuan Xiong ,&nbsp;Chao Yu ,&nbsp;Guozheng Kang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104312","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104312","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this work, an improved crystal plasticity coupled twinning phase field is developed by introducing a hyperbolic hardening function describing the hardening resulting from dislocation slipping interactions. This model effectively captures the complex interactions of multiple plasticity mechanisms in non-textured (NT) and basal-textured (BT) polycrystalline Mg alloys under monotonic and tension-compression cyclic loadings. The results indicate that NT polycrystalline Mg alloy exhibit multi-mode plastic deformation combining basal/non-basal slipping and twinning due to random grain orientations, whereas BT polycrystalline Mg alloys predominantly activate one or two plastic deformation modes including the basal slipping, and the texture angle <em>α</em> (characterized the statistical average properties of the grain orientations) modulates plastic mechanism with selective sensitivity. Cyclic loading reveals tension-compression symmetry in NT and BT (<em>α</em> = 45°) systems, but asymmetry in BT (<em>α</em> = 0°/90°) due to alternating plastic mechanisms. De-twinning-induced nonlinear unloading emerges in both NT and BT polycrystalline systems, and inhomogeneous stress near grain boundaries and twin intersection regions impedes complete de-twinning, accumulating residual twins that facilitate subsequent nucleation. Dislocation slipping, particularly the basal slipping, accommodates strain incompatibility at grain boundaries and around twins, and demonstrates dual roles on twinning. Neighboring grain interactions induce anomalous local deformation inconsistent with the Schmid's law. These findings establish microstructure-property relationships supporting the development of texture-based strengthening-toughening strategies for Mg alloys.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104312"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143660548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tailoring fracture resistance of a metastable Fe42Mn28Co10Cr15Si5 high entropy alloy by intrinsic toughening","authors":"Manoj Yadav ,&nbsp;Niraj Nayan ,&nbsp;Krishanu Biswas ,&nbsp;N.P. Gurao","doi":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104315","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijplas.2025.104315","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Metastable high entropy alloys (HEAs) provide an exceptional combination of strength and ductility by the synergistic operation of slip, twinning, and transformation; however, their fracture behaviour remains unexplored. In the present investigation, tensile and elastic-plastic fracture toughness tests with a 2D digital image correlation setup were carried out for different microstructural states of Fe₄₂Mn₂₈Co₁₀Cr₁₅Si₅ HEA. Finite element analysis (FEA) coupled with combinatorial site-specific electron backscatter diffraction helps in developing a meso and micro scale mechanistic understanding of the extrinsic and intrinsic toughening processes. The calculated J-integral and plastic zone size using FEA simulations were corroborated with experimental results. The crack growth resistance (J-R) curve was evaluated across three distinct processing conditions: hot rolled (HR), 1 h annealed at 1173 K (AN1173), and 4 h annealed at 1373 K (AN1373). The HR material exhibited higher strength (yield strength = 630 ± 8 MPa), while the AN1373 demonstrated highest ductility (0.74 ± 0.04). The mode I plane strain fracture toughness was highest for the AN1373 (125.4 ± 15.8 MPa.m^0.5) and lowest for the AN1173 (46.3 ± 7.4 MPa.m^0.5). The Cr-rich sigma phase at grain boundaries in the HR and AN1173 led to pronounced intergranular fracture, resulting in lower fracture toughness and plasticity. The multiple variants of martensite in the AN1373 microstructural state, results in refined microstructure by interactions of transformation variants and dislocations that enhance the strength, ductility, and crack tip plasticity. The findings underscore the significant impact of intrinsic toughening on the fracture and deformation behaviour of the Fe₄₂Mn₂₈Co₁₀Cr₁₅Si₅ HEA.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":340,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Plasticity","volume":"188 ","pages":"Article 104315"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143660564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}