Cu5Cr35Fe35V20Ti5, Cu10Cr35Fe35V10Ti10, Cu15Cr35Fe35V5Ti10 and Cu20Cr30Fe30V10Ti10 were produced by low-pressure arc-melting to evaluate the feasibility of developing reduced activation high entropy alloys containing copper. The materials present a dendritic microstructure and some Cu and Ti segregation in the as-cast condition, being the Cu5Cr35Fe35V20Ti5 the most homogenous alloy. Copper particles, with a mean size of about 10 nm, are found distributed inside the dendrites. The volume fraction of the copper particles is ~ 7 times higher in the alloy with 5 at.% Cu content that in the alloy with 20 at.%, with values ranging from 22 ± 5 to 3 ± 2 particles/¿m2. Combination of massive Berkovich nanoindentation, statistical analysis and analytical scanning electron microscopy, has been successful for determining the hardness and elastic modulus values of each phase and quantifying their contribution to microhardness values obtained by standard Vickers microindentation.
Classification
subjects
Materials science and engineering
Physics
keywords
high entropy alloy; copper alloys; arc-melting; nanoindentation