Temperature dependence of the yield stress in TiZrNbHfTa body-centred cubic high-entropy alloy

Body-centred cubic (bcc) high-entropy alloys exhibit high strength. However, their yield behaviour and controlling mechanisms are still ambiguous. In this study, the temperature dependence of the yield stress, effective stress, activation volume, and activation enthalpy in a polycrystalline bcc refractory high-entropy alloy of TiZrNbHfTa were measured by tensile tests at 77–750 K. At temperatures above 650 K, the temperature dependence of the yield stress disappeared, and serration appeared in stress–strain curves. By extrapolating the effective shear stress to 0 K, the Peierls stress was estimated to be 580 MPa. The value was compared with different crystals using the relationship τpμ and hb, where τp is the Peierls stress, μ is the shear modulus, h is the distance between the slip planes, and b is the Burgers vector. The τpμ value in this study was slightly higher than that of other bcc crystals. The activation enthalpy below 260 K corresponds to that of other bcc crystals with high Peierls potentials, suggesting kink-pair nucleation is the controlling mechanism of the dislocation glide in this temperature range. Meanwhile, the activation enthalpy above 260 K deviated from the trendline, indicating the changes in the dislocation glide from the kink-pair nucleation to other one.