Concurrence of spinodal decomposition and nano-phase precipitation in a multi-component AlCoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloy

The concurrence of spinodal decomposition and nano-phase precipitation in an AlCoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloy produced by arc melting, spray casting and melt spinning was investigated in the present work. It is shown that the present high cooling rate cannot inhibit the concurrence of spinodal decomposition and nano-phase precipitation. In the solidification and annealing process, three typical structures including Cu-rich nano-precipitates of FCC structure, Al-Ni-rich plate of B2 structure, and Fe-Cr-rich plate of A2 structure were observed; meanwhile, the width of modulated plate decreased with the increase of the cooling rate. An interesting phenomenon was observed in the as-annealed microstructure that Al-Ni and Fe-Cr spinodal plates were weakened or vanished rather than strengthened, due to the atom diffusion and composition homogenization. Different from spinodal decomposition plates, the Cu-rich nano-precipitates grew into rod-like phase from point-like or oval phase in the whole process. The intersection angle of newborn rod-like nano-phases tended to 60°, following the K-S crystallographic relationship.