Project overview
Modern technologies demand materials with exceptional combinations of properties. The emergence of fusion energy, hydrogen engines and the demand for operation at irradiation-rich environments pose significant challenges in achieving multi-objective optimisation of material properties. For instance, strength and toughness are reduced with temperature, hardness is generally incompatible with high ductility, few corrosion-resistant materials are very strong. This has recently been challenged by the discovery (in 2004) of a novel family of materials, high-entropy alloys (HEAs); these are composition-rich systems displaying great stability and excellent properties up to very high temperatures. HEAs and bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are classed as metastable alloys as they are prone to transformation under deformation. Contrary to the HEAs, BMGs have been known for over sixty years. They are known to display high strength, hardness, toughness, and excellent resistance to irradiation and corrosion.
This project aims at exploring the boundary between HEAs and BMGs. The ultimate goal is to identify the compositional boundary when a HEA becomes a BMG, and explore the opportunity to obtain a mixture of both.
This project aims at exploring the boundary between HEAs and BMGs. The ultimate goal is to identify the compositional boundary when a HEA becomes a BMG, and explore the opportunity to obtain a mixture of both.
