Formation of fully equiaxed grain microstructure in additively manufactured AlCoCrFeNiTi0.5 high entropy alloy

In this work, the non-equiatomic high entropy alloy AlCoCrFeNiTi0.5 was additively manufactured via the laser engineered net shaping (LENS™) process. Contrary to the columnar grain microstructure commonly observed in previously reported alloys, the as-deposited AlCoCrFeNiTi0.5 specimens exhibit a fully equiaxed grain microstructure in a wide range of temperature gradients G (85 to 1005 K/mm) and solidification velocities V (5 to 20 mm/s). The main microstructural characteristics were found to be B2-structured proeutectic dendrites delineated by lamellar or rod-like B2/A2 eutectic structures. The formation of this microstructural feature can be discussed with the aid of Scheil’s solidification model. The proeutectic B2-structured dendrites were frequently found to be fragmented, which may provide profuse effective nucleation sites, and hence promote equiaxed grain formation. Furthermore, we estimated the volume fraction ϕ values of equiaxed crystals at solidification front for various G - V combinations established in this paper, which can provide a theoretical basis for our experimental findings. The current work provides guidelines for producing fully equiaxed alloys by the additive manufacturing (AM) process. [Display omitted] •Fully equiaxed grain microstructures are easily achieved in additively manufactured high entropy alloy AlCoCrFeNiTi0.5.•The equiaxed grain formation is attributed to frequent dendrite fragmentation and hence profuse effective nucleation sites.•A quantitative analysis is performed to provide a theoretical basis for our experimental findings.