Quenching of High Entropy Alloys after Annealing

The effect of cooling rate after annealing at 900 °C on the microstructure and hardness of high entropy alloys was investigated using two typical samples with the chemical composition of Co16Cr14.5Fe29Mn11.5Ni29 and Co11.5Cr7Fe27Mn27Ni27(Nb0.08C0.5) (at%). The microstructural characterisation and hardness measurements were carried out by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, electron back scattered diffraction, X-ray diffraction technique and Vickers hardness testing. A face centred cubic crystal structure matrix was observed in both alloys before and after annealing and regardless of cooling conditions. SEM analyses revealed an extensive precipitation in Co11.5Cr7Fe27Mn27Ni27 (Nb0.08C0.5) alloy after annealing. It was also found that air/furnace cooling can enhance grain growth-coarsening just in Co16Cr14.5Fe29Mn11.5Ni29. However, the hardness results generally showed insignificant hardness variations in both alloys after water-quenching, air-cooling and furnace-cooling. The results suggested that the hardness is mainly controlled by solid solution strengthening.