Mechanical and tribological properties of TiC-SiC-ZrC hybrid carbide-reinforced FeMn0.25CrNi high-entropy alloy composites prepared by spark plasma sintering
摘要
The service environment of high-entropy alloys is becoming more and more extreme, which puts forward more stringent requirements on their comprehensive mechanical properties. Therefore, the development of high-performance composites needs to be promoted urgently. Novel TiC-SiC-ZrC hybrid carbide-reinforced FeMn0.25CrNi high-entropy alloy composites were fabricated via mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. During sintering, the added carbides completely dissolved and reacted with the matrix to form in-situ nanoscale M23C6 chromium-rich carbides, which uniformly dispersed both intragranular and intergranular. This hybrid reinforcement remarkably refined the grains from 2.28 μm to 0.93–1.07 μm through effective Zener pinning. The optimized Ti2Si2Zr1 composite achieved an exceptional strength-ductility synergy, attaining a yield strength of 1,274 MPa and hardness of 466 HV while retaining 15% strain. Furthermore, the composite exhibited superior wear resistance with a wear rate of 3.6 × 10–5 mm3/Nm, approximately one order of magnitude lower than the matrix alloy. The theoretical yield strength calculated by superimposing multiple strengthening mechanisms showed excellent agreement with experimental results with less than 2% deviation, validating the established strengthening model.