The development of High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) focuses on exploring compositional regions in multi-component systems with all alloy elements in equal or near-equal atomic concentrations. Initially it was based on the...

Solute strengthening is an important mechanism that contributes to improving the mechanical properties of alloys and particularly the recent generations of concentrated alloys. The stress field emerging from an elastic model of a random solid solution displays strongly anisotropic correlations that interact differently with dislocations of different characters. In the present work, we investigate the depinning transition of edge and screw dislocations evolving in such a correlated stress environment using a dislocation dynamics numerical model. We find that edge dislocations are only weakly affected by the correlations, while screw dislocations are strongly influenced, showing a smaller critical stress, which increases with the amplitude of the stress noise with a larger exponent than the edge dislocation. The numerical results are compared with existing statistical models of solute strengthening, allowing to discuss critically their assumptions.

Interfaces, grain boundaries, and dislocations are known to have significant impact on the transport properties of materials. Even so, it is still not clear how the structure of interfaces influences the mobility and concentration of carriers that are responsible for transport. Using low angle twist grain boundaries in MgO as a model system, we examine the structural and kinetic properties of vacancies. These boundaries are characterized by a network of screw dislocations. Vacancies of both types, Mg and O, are strongly attracted to the dislocation network, residing preferentially at the misfit dislocation intersections (MDIs). However, the vacancies can lower their energy by splitting into two parts, which then repel each other along the dislocation line between two MDIs, further lowering their energy. This dissociated structure has important consequences for transport, as the free energy of the dissociated vacancies decreases with decreasing twist angle, leading to an increase in the net migration barrier for diffusion as revealed by molecular dynamics simulations. Similar behavior is observed in BaO and NaCl, highlighting the generality of the behavior. Finally, we analyze the structure of the dissociated vacancies as a pair of jogs on the dislocation and construct a model containing electrostatic and elastic contributions that qualitatively describe the energetics of the dissociated vacancy. Our results represent the first validation of a mechanism for vacancy dissociation on screw dislocations in ionic materials first discussed by Thomson and Balluffi in 1962.

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Nanostructured ferritic alloys are considered as candidates for structural components in advanced nuclear reactors due to a high density of nano-oxides (NOs) and ultrafine grain sizes. However, bimodal grain size distribution results in inhomogeneous NO distribution, or vice versa. Here, we report that density of NOs in small grains (<0.5 µm) is high while there are almost no NOs inside the large grains (>2 µm) before and after irradiation. After 6 dpa neutron irradiation at 385–430 °C, α′ precipitation has been observed in these alloys; however, their size and number densities vary considerably in small and large grains. In this study, we have investigated the precipitation kinetics of α′ particles based on the sink density, using both transmission electron microscopy and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. It has been found that in the presence of a low sink density, α′ particles form and grow faster due to the existence of a larger defect density in the matrix. On the other hand, while α′ particles form far away from the sink interface when the sink size is small, Cr starts to segregate at the sink interface with the increase in the sink size. Additionally, grain boundary characteristics are found to determine the radiation-induced segregation of Cr.