J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2025, Vol. 210: 151-158.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2024.05.051

• Letter • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A new route to bulk nanostructured multiphase alloys with ultrahigh hardness

Yu Yina,b, Hao Wangc, Qiyang Tanb, Qiang Sund,e, Yueqin Wub,f, Shengduo Xub, Yitian Zhaob, Meng Lib, Xiaozhou Liaoc, Han Huanga,*, Mingxing Zhangb,*   

  1. aSchool of Advanced Manufacturing, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China;
    bSchool of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia;
    cSchool of Aerospace, Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia;
    dState Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China;
    eSichuan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Oral Biomaterials, Chengdu 610041, China;
    fInstitute of Manufacturing Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
  • Revised:2024-04-17 Online:2024-06-13
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: hanhuang@sysu.edu.cn (H. Huang),Mingxing.Zhang@uq.edu.au (M. Zhang)

Abstract: Nanostructured multiphase (NM) alloys have attracted extensive attention due to their superior mechanical properties. However, it is still a great challenge to effectively design and produce large-scale NM alloys. Here, utilizing the intermediate-temperature instability of high entropy alloys (HEAs), we propose a new approach to rapidly design and effectively produce bulk NM alloys. The key to our design approach includes the “destabilization strategy” to destabilize the single-phase HEA, and the “self-optimization” strategy to rapidly identify the composition of NM alloys. We developed a bulk NM alloy with a hardness of up to ∼1378 HV. Such a high hardness originates from a two-stage phase decomposition behaviour at intermediate temperatures and the formation of a unique coherent multiphasic nanostructure. This design strategy not only effectively guides the discovery of novel NM alloys from the immense compositional space of HEAs, but also enables the large-scale synthesis of NM alloys.