Excellent ballistic impact resistance of Al0.3CoCrFeNi multi-principal element alloy with unique bimodal microstructure

Saideep Muskeri; Bharat Gwalani; Shristy Jha; Anqi Yu; Philip A Jannotti; Ravi Sankar Haridas; Brian E Schuster; Jeffrey T Lloyd; Rajiv S Mishra; Sundeep Mukherjee

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-02209-y

Excellent ballistic impact resistance of Al_0.3CoCrFeNi multi-principal element alloy with unique bimodal microstructure

Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 22;11(1):22715. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02209-y.

Authors

Saideep Muskeri^{1

2}, Bharat Gwalani^{1

2

3}, Shristy Jha^{1

2}, Anqi Yu³, Philip A Jannotti⁴, Ravi Sankar Haridas^{1

2}, Brian E Schuster⁵, Jeffrey T Lloyd⁴, Rajiv S Mishra^{1

2}, Sundeep Mukherjee^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203, USA.
² Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes Institute, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76207, USA.
³ Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99352, USA.
⁴ DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21005, USA.
⁵ Department of Metallurgical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203, USA. sundeep.mukherjee@unt.edu.
⁷ Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes Institute, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76207, USA. sundeep.mukherjee@unt.edu.

Abstract

Multi-principal element alloys represent a new paradigm in structural alloy design with superior mechanical properties and promising ballistic performance. Here, the mechanical response of Al_0.3CoCrFeNi alloy, with unique bimodal microstructure, was evaluated at quasistatic, dynamic, and ballistic strain rates. The microstructure after quasistatic deformation was dominated by highly deformed grains. High density of deformation bands was observed at dynamic strain rates but there was no indication of adiabatic shear bands, cracks, or twinning. The ballistic response was evaluated by impacting a 12 mm thick plate with 6.35 mm WC projectiles at velocities ranging from 1066 to 1465 m/s. The deformed microstructure after ballistic impact was dominated by adiabatic shear bands, shear band induced cracks, microbands, and dynamic recrystallization. The superior ballistic response of this alloy compared with similar Al_xCoCrFeNi alloys was attributed to its bimodal microstructure, nano-scale L1₂ precipitation, and grain boundary B2 precipitates. Deformation mechanisms at quasistatic and dynamic strain rates were primarily characterized by extensive dislocation slip and low density of stacking faults. Deformation mechanisms at ballistic strain rates were characterized by grain rotation, disordering of the L1₂ phase, and high density of stacking faults.

Grants and funding

W911NF-18-2-0067/Army Research Laboratory