Wenjun Lu

Severe lattice distortion is a core effect in the design of multiprincipal element alloys with the aim to enhance yield strength, a key indicator in structural engineering. Yet, the yield strength values of medium- and high-entropy alloys investigated so far do not substantially exceed those of conventional alloys owing to the insufficient utilization of lattice distortion. Here it is shown that a simple VCoNi equiatomic medium-entropy alloy exhibits a near 1 GPa yield strength and good ductility, outperforming conventional solid-solution alloys. It is demonstrated that a wide fluctuation of the atomic bond distances in such alloys, i.e., severe lattice distortion, improves both yield stress and its sensitivity to grain size. In addition, the dislocation-mediated plasticity effectively enhances the strength-ductility relationship by generating nanosized dislocation substructures due to massive pinning. The results demonstrate that severe lattice distortion is a key property for identifying extra-strong materials for structural engineering applications.

Abstract Strong and ductile materials that have high resistance to corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement are rare and yet essential for realizing safety-critical energy infrastructures, hydrogen-based industries, and transportation solutions. Here we report how we reconcile these constraints in the form of a strong and ductile CoNiV medium-entropy alloy with face-centered cubic structure. It shows high resistance to hydrogen embrittlement at ambient temperature at a strain rate of 10 −4 s −1 , due to its low hydrogen diffusivity and the deformation twinning that impedes crack propagation. Moreover, a dense oxide film formed on the alloy’s surface reduces the hydrogen uptake rate, and provides high corrosion resistance in dilute sulfuric acid with a corrosion current density below 7 μA cm −2 . The combination of load carrying capacity and resistance to harsh environmental conditions may qualify this multi-component alloy as a potential candidate material for sustainable and safe infrastructures and devices.

Microstructural length-scale refinement is among the most efficient approaches to strengthen metallic materials. Conventional methods for refining microstructures generally involve grain size reduction via heavy cold working, compromising the material's ductility. Here, a fundamentally new approach that allows load-driven formation and permanent refinement of a hierarchical nanolaminate structure in a novel high-entropy alloy containing multiple principal elements is reported. This is achieved by triggering both, dynamic forward transformation from a faced-centered-cubic γ matrix into a hexagonal-close-packed ε nanolaminate structure and the dynamic reverse transformation from ε into γ. This new mechanism is referred to as the "bidirectional transformation induced plasticity" (B-TRIP) effect, which is enabled through a near-zero yet positive stacking fault energy of γ. Modulation of directionality in the transformation is triggered by local dissipative heating and local micromechanical fields. The simple thermodynamic and kinetic foundations for the B-TRIP effect render this approach generally suited for designing metastable strong and ductile bulk materials with hierarchical nanolaminate substructures.

) and excellent tensile elongation (13 to 38%), a combination outperforming all other high-strength high-entropy alloys and advanced lightweight steels. Our concept of CCSs is thus useful for guiding the design of ultrastrong lightweight metallic materials.