Interface Characteristics and Dynamic Compression Behaviors of Al35Ti15Cr20Mn20Cu10 High-Entroy Alloy/6061Al Composites Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering

作者：Jin, Xiaoqiang; Zhu, Dezhi^*; Liu, Shiwen; Li, Xiaoqiang; Yang, Chao

来源：ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, 2023, 25(5).

DOI：10.1002/adem.202200632

• aluminum matrix composites
• dynamic compression
• interface characteristics
• lightweight high-entropy alloys
• spark plasma sintering

Lightweight high-entropy alloys (LWHEAs) become the research hotspot and are ideal reinforcement materials for aluminum matrix composites (AMCs). The 0, 5, and 10 vol% lightweight Al35Ti15Cr20Mn20Cu10 HEA/6061Al (HEA/Al) composites are fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The HEA-Al interfacial characteristics, dynamic compression behaviors, and failure mechanism of the composites are studied. Results show that Al35Ti15Cr20Mn20Cu10 LWHEA possesses body-centered cubic (BCC) and face-centered cubic (FCC) dual-phase structures. The interfacial diffusion layer of HEA/Al is characterized as alpha-Al (FCC phase) dissolved by Cr, Mn, and Si atoms, with a thickness of about 0.6 1. During dynamic compression, the introduction of Al35Ti15Cr20Mn20Cu10 LWHEA particles significantly improves the strain-rate sensitivity of 6061Al alloy. Among them, the strain-rate sensitivity coefficient of 10 vol% HEA/Al composites is 0.02, about four times that of the aluminum alloy matrix. Different from the micro-failure controlled by interfacial-debonding for AMCs reinforced by ceramic particles, the failures of HEA/Al composites are dominated by the breakage of LWHEA particles and micro-cracks formed in the matrix, while interfacial-debonding is rarely observed in the diffusion layers. It is concluded that a strong-binding HEA-Al interface can effectively restrain the rapid propagation of cracks in the composites suffered by impact load.