A novel low-density semi-hard magnetic Al20Fe20Mg20Ni20Ti20 high entropy alloy

•A novel low-density HEA were synthesized through MA.•Synthesized Al20Fe20Mg20Ni20Ti20 HEA is comprised of the mixture of bcc and fcc phase.•Al20Fe20Mg20Ni20Ti20 HEA showed good semi-hard magnetic characteristics.•The effect of annealing on phase evolution and magnetic behavior was also investigated. A relatively low density nanocrystalline high entropy alloy (HEA) with a nominal composition of Al20Fe20Mg20Ni20Ti20 is synthesized through the mechanical alloying process. The synthesized HEA is comprised of the mixture of bcc and fcc solid solution with crystallite size of the order of 6 to 7 nm. To understand the phase stability, the synthesized HEA is annealed at 200 °C and 500 °C for 2 hr. The 200 °C annealed HEA does not show any significant change in the XRD pattern. However, annealing at 500 °C affects the relative volume fraction of the formed phases. The synthesized Al20Fe20Mg20Ni20Ti20 HEA showed better magnetic characteristics with Ms (54.28 emu/g) and Hc (43.4 Oe) as compared to the many of recently reported HEAs. Moreover, for 200 °C annealed HEA, the found value of Ms (54.92 emu/g) and Hc (42.4 Oe) is similar to the as-synthesized HEA. An interesting change in magnetic behaviour has been observed after annealing at 500 °C, which may be related to the change in the fcc to bcc phase volume and change in the lattice parameter of these phases.