Characterization data of an (AlFeNiTiVZr)1-xCrx multi-principal element alloy continuous composition spread library.

The data provided in this article is related to the research article entitled "Phase stabilization and oxidation of a continuous composition spread multi-principal element (AlFeNiTiVZr)1-xCrx alloy" [1]. This data article describes the high-throughput synthesis and characterization processes of an (AlFeNiTiVZr)1-xCrx alloy system. Continuous composition spread (CCS) thin-film libraries were synthesized by co-depositing an AlFeNiTiVZr metal alloy target and Cr target via magnetron sputtering. Post-processing was performed on the sample libraries with a vacuum anneal at 873 K and an air anneal at 873 K. Compositional data was determined via WDS in order to verify parameters provided by an in-house sputter model. Crystallographic data was captured via synchrotron diffraction and diffractograms were compared as a function of the change in Cr concentration. These measurements were taken in order to observe phase behavior after oxidation throughout the composition library. Furthermore, vibrational spectrographic data is provided of the oxidized library to show surface speciation along the composition gradient of the alloy system. The structural and oxidative behavior of the (AlFeNiTiVZr)1-xCrx alloy can be analysed using the data provided in this article. Additionally, this characterization dataset can be utilized in machine learning algorithms for determining important features and parameters for future hypothesis generation of functional multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs).

The Different Roles of Entropy and Solubility in High Entropy Alloy Stability.

Multiprincipal element high entropy alloys stabilized as a single alloy phase represent a new material system with promising properties, such as high corrosion and creep resistance, sluggish diffusion, and high temperature tensile strength. However, the mechanism of stabilization to form single phase alloys is controversial. Early studies hypothesized that a large entropy of mixing was responsible for stabilizing the single phase; more recent work has proposed that the single-phase solid solution is the result of mutual solubility of the principal elements. Here, we demonstrate the first self-consistent study of the relative importance of these two proposed mechanisms. In situ high-throughput synchrotron diffraction studies were used to monitor the stability of the single phase alloy in thin-film (Al1-x-yCuxMoy)FeNiTiVZr composition spread samples. Our results indicate that a metastable solid solution can be captured via the rapid quenching typical of physical vapor deposition processes, but upon annealing the solid-solution phase stability is primarily governed by mutual miscibility.

A high-throughput investigation of Fe-Cr-Al as a novel high-temperature coating for nuclear cladding materials.

High-temperature alloy coatings that can resist oxidation are urgently needed as nuclear cladding materials to mitigate the danger of hydrogen explosions during meltdown. Here we apply a combination of computationally guided materials synthesis, high-throughput structural characterization and data analysis tools to investigate the feasibility of coatings from the Fe­Cr­Al alloy system. Composition-spread samples were synthesized to cover the region of the phase diagram previous bulk studies have identified as forming protective oxides. The metallurgical and oxide phase evolution were studied via in situ synchrotron glancing incidence x-ray diffraction at temperatures up to 690 K. A composition region with an Al concentration greater than 3.08 at%, and between 20.0 at% and 32.9 at% Cr showed the least overall oxide growth. Subsequently, a series of samples were deposited on stubs and their oxidation behavior at 1373 K was observed. The continued presence of a passivating oxide was confirmed in this region over a period of 6 h.

Combinatorial approach to turbine bond coat discovery.

A nondestructive method for the high-throughput screening of novel bond coat materials has been developed. By using a suite of characterization techniques, including Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, a rapid determination of thermally grown oxide phases and their protective capability over a continuous composition spread sample can be obtained. The methodology is validated with the Ni-Al system. The procedure developed in this work results in the rapid identification of bond coat composition regions in which the preferred thermally grown oxide, α-Al2O3, is nucleated thus significantly reducing the amount of phase space that needs to be explored in subsequent studies.