Effect of Cr-Doping on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Mechanically Alloyed FeCoNiAlMn1- xCrx High-Entropy Alloy Powder

Danial Nawaid Siddiqui; Nasir Mehboob; Abid Zaman; Amnah Mohammed Alsuhaibani; Ali Algahtani; Vineet Tirth; Sarah Alharthi; Nora Hamad Al-Shaalan; Mohammed A Amin

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c01823

Effect of Cr-Doping on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Mechanically Alloyed FeCoNiAlMn_{1- x}Cr_x High-Entropy Alloy Powder

ACS Omega. 2023 May 19;8(22):19892-19899. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c01823. eCollection 2023 Jun 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China.
² Department of Physics, Riphah International University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
³ Department of Physical Sport Science, College of Education, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Asir, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, Guraiger, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Asir, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Center of Advanced Research in Science and Technology, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

In this work, the new compositions of FeCoNiAlMn_1-xCr_x, (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0), a high-entropy alloy powder (HEAP), are prepared by mechanical alloying (MA). The influence of Cr doping on the phase structure, microstructure, and magnetic properties is thoroughly investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry. It is found that this alloy has formed a simple body-centered cubic structure with a minute face-centered cubic structure for Mn to Cr replacement with heat treatment. The lattice parameter, average crystallite size, and grain size decrease by replacing Cr with Mn. The SEM analysis of FeCoNiAlMn showed no grain boundary formation, depicting a single-phase microstructure after MA, similar to XRD. The saturation magnetization first increases (68 emu/g) up to x = 0.6 and then decreases with complete substitution of Cr. Magnetic properties are related to crystallite size. FeCoNiAlMn_0.4Cr_0.6 HEAP has shown optimum results with better saturation magnetization and coercivity as a soft magnet.