High-temperature creep mechanism of Ti-Ta-Nb-Mo-Zr refractory high-entropy alloys prepared by laser powder bed fusion technology

Creep resistance, which is one of the most important deformation modes, is rarely reported for refractory high entropy alloys (RHEAs). The experiment investigated the high-temperature creep mechanism of Ti-Ta-Nb-Mo-Zr RHEA prepared by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. The high cooling rate of LPBF suppresses most of the elemental segregation, but there are still over-solidified precipitates and a few continuous precipitates (CP). In the range of 923–1023 K, the stress exponent and activation energy were determined to be 3.2–3.4 and 261.5 ± 19.5 kJ/mol, respectively. Compared with other conventional alloys and HEAs, a large reduction of the minimum creep rate is found in the LPBF-built Ti1.5Ta0.5NbZrMo0.5 RHEA, indicating a significant improvement in high-temperature properties. The dislocation tangles at the interface is formed during the creep process and new Zr-rich CP phases are generated in the dislocation tangles region. The interfacial dislocation tangles is the result of the interaction between dislocations and two-phase mismatch stresses. The dislocation tangles prevents dislocations from further cutting the matrix phase, which is very favorable to the high-temperature creep performance. At the same time, the formation of this dislocation tangles greatly accelerates the nucleation process and growth rate of the new CP phase. The present work provides a pathway to design novel HEAs with improved high-temperature creep resistance.