Composition-dependent apparent activation-energy and sluggish grain-growth in high entropy alloys

ABSTRACT Experimental results reveal that the apparent activation-energy for grain-growth in an fcc-based AlxCoCrFeNi high entropy alloy (HEA) system increases from 179 to 486？kJ/mol when the Al content increases from x？=？0.1 to 0.3. These unexpectedly high apparent activation-energy values can be potentially attributed to solute clustering within the fcc solid-solution phase that develops with increasing Al content in this HEA. Detailed microstructural analysis using atom-probe tomography and density functional theory (DFT) calculations strongly indicate the presence of such nanoscale clusters. This phenomenon can change grain-growth from a classical solute-drag regime to a much more sluggish cluster-drag based mechanism in these HEAs. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT IMPACT STATEMENT First report on a composition dependent change in apparent activation-energy for grain-growth in high entropy alloys. A novel cluster drag effect inhibiting grain-growth kinetics is suggested