Elucidating the transition of cryogenic deformation mechanism of CrMnFeCoNi high entropy alloy

Here, the evolution of the deformation mechanism of the well-known CrMnFeCoNi high entropy alloy (HEA) under a cryogenic temperature was investigated via using transmission electron microscopy characterization after compressive experiments. It is found that, in contrast to the dominate mechanism of dislocation slip at 298 K, the deformation mode of the studied HEA at 123 K can be divided into two stages: (i) at the initial plastic stage, the plasticity is mainly induced by the planar dislocation glide; and (ii) at the late plastic stage, the combination of dislocation hardening and mechanical twinning facilitates high strength for the studied alloy. These findings are helpful to understand the temperature dependent deformation mechanism of high entropy alloys.