Effects of Al and Si addition on the structure and properties of CoFeNi equal atomic ratio alloy

In this work, a series of AlxCoFeNi and CoFeNiSix high-entropy alloys (HEAs) of different Al and Si molar ratio (x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1)were designed and, the effects of Al and Si addition on the structure and properties of the materials was investigated by a systematic study on the phase, microstructure, mechanical behavior, electrical and magnetic properties. It was found that the amounts of Al and Si additions strongly influence the phase structures of the alloys; high molar ratio of Al element can change the FCC structure to BCC structure, while more Si addition can lead to new compounds. Both Al and Si addition can increase the yield strength and hardness with the sacrifice of plasticity and, the effect of adding Si on the mechanical properties is more significant than that of adding Al. Characterization of the magnetic properties and hysteresis loops revealed that, all these alloys show typical ferromagnetic behavior. The saturation magnetization decreases from 151.3 emu/g (x=0) to 101.8 emu/g (x=1) when changing the Al content; and decreases from 151.3 emu/g (x=0) to 80.5 emu/g (x=0.75) with changing the Si content. Si addition can decrease the saturation magnetization more significantly than Al addition. The opposite trend can be found in the effects of the alloying element on the electrical resistivity with varying Al or Si content, adding Si can increase the electrical resistivity from 16.7 μΩ cm to 82.89 μΩ cm. It was also found that, the alloys also undergo very small magnetostriction, which is essential to ensure that the materials are not stressed when an external magnetic field is applied (or conversely, that external stresses do not disrupt the magnetic properties).