The effects of niobium and molybdenum additions on the microstructures, hardness and corrosion behaviors of CrFeCoNi(Nb,Mo) alloys were investigated. All of the CrFeCoNi(Nb,Mo) alloys displayed dendritic microstructures. The dendrites of CrFeCoNiNb and CrFeCoNiNb0.5Mo0.5 alloys were a hexagonal close packing (HCP) phase and the interdendrites were a eutectic structure of HCP and face-centered cubic (FCC) phases. Additionally, the dendrites of CrFeCoNiMo alloys were a simple cubic (SC) phase and the interdendrites were a eutectic structure of SC and FCC phases. The volume fraction of dendrites and interdendrites in these alloys were calculated. The influences of the volume fraction of dendrite in the alloys on the overall hardness were also discussed. The CrFeCoNiNb alloy had the larger volume fraction of dendrite and thus had the highest hardness among these alloys. The CrFeCoNi(Nb,Mo) alloys also showed better corrosion resistances in 1 M H2SO4 and 1 M NaCl solutions by comparing with commercial 304 stainless steel. The CrFeCoNiNb0.5Mo0.5 alloy possessed the best corrosion resistances in these solutions among the CrFeCoNi(Nb,Mo) alloys.

This work studied the effect of niobium-content on the microstructures, hardness, and corrosion properties of CrFeCoNiNbx alloys. Results indicated that the microstructures of these alloys changed from granular structures (CrFeCoNi alloy) to the hypereutectic structures (CrFeCoNiNb0.2 and CrFeCoNi0.4 alloys), and then to the hypoeutectic microstructures (CrFeCoNiNb0.6 and CrFeCoNi alloys). The lattice constants of the major two phases in these alloys, fcc and Laves phases (hcp), increased with the increasing of Nb-content because of solid-solution strengthening. The hardness of CrFeCoNiNbx alloys also had the same tendency. Adding niobium would slightly lessen the corrosion resistance of CrFeCoNiNbx alloys in 1 M deaerated sulfuric acid and 1 M deaerated sodium chloride solutions, but the CrFeCoNiNbx alloys still had better corrosion resistance in comparison with commercial 304 stainless steel. In these dual-phased CrFeCoNiNbx alloys, the fcc phase was more severely corroded than the Laves phase after polarization tests in these two solutions.

FeCoNiMo and CrFeCoNiMo equimolar alloys were prepared by arc-melting. The microstructures of the as-cast alloys were examined by SEM, HREM and XRD; and a potentiodynamic polarization test of the as-cast alloys was undertaken to evaluate the corrosion resistance in the solutions. Results showed that both of FeCoNiMo and CrFeCoNiMo equimolar alloys had a dendritic structure. The dendrites of these two alloys were a single phase which was a simple cubic (SC) structure with large lattice constant; and the interdendrities of these two alloys had a dual-phased eutectic structure in which the phases were face-centered cubic (FCC) and simple cubic (SC). The hardness of CrFeCoNiMo alloy was higher than that of FeCoNiMo alloy. Additionally, the potentiodynamic polarization test showed that CrFeCoNiMo alloy was better than FeCoNiMo alloy in 1 M nitric acid and 1 M sodium chloride solutions. Adding chromium into FeCoNiMo alloy could increase corrosion resistance in these two solutions. All of the results indicated that the CrFeCoNiMo alloy surpassed FeCoNiMo alloy.

The present work systematically investigated the effects of niobium and molybdenum on the microstructures and corrosion properties of high-entropy CrFeCoNiNbxMox and CrFeCoNiNbxMo1−x alloys, the maximum content of (Nb + Mo) was 20 at.%. All of the alloys were prepared by arc melting under an argon atmosphere. In CrFeCoNiNbxMox alloys (x = 0.15, 0.3 and 0.5), increasing Nb and Mo content would change the microstructure of the alloy from a hypoeutectic structure (x ≤ 0.3) to a hypereutectic one (x = 0.5). All of the CrFeCoNiNbxMo1−x alloys (x = 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75) had a hypereutectic microstructure. Only two phases were analyzed in these alloys, which were face-centered cubic (FCC) and hexagonal close packing (HCP). Increasing the content of Nb and Mo increases the hardness of the alloys by the effects of the solid solution strengthening and formation of the HCP phase. The potentiodynamic polarization curves of these alloys were also measured in 1 M sulfuric acid and 1 M sodium chloride solutions to evaluate the corrosion resistance of these alloys. The CrFeCoNiNb0.3Mo0.3 alloy had the smallest corrosion rate (0.0732 mm/yr) in 1 M deaerated H2SO4 solution, and the CrFeCoNiNb0.15Mo0.15 alloy had the smallest corrosion rate (0.0425 mm/yr) in 1 M deaerated NaCl solution. However, the CrFeCoNiNb0.5Mo0.5 alloy still had the best combination of corrosion resistance and hardness in the present study.