High creep resistance in amorphous/crystalline dual-phase nanostructured CoCrFeNiMn high entropy alloys

Amorphous/crystalline dual-phase metallic materials received great attention owing to their synergistic combination of strength and ductility. However, the mechanisms governing creep deformation in these dual-phase materials are largely elusive. In the present letter, the creep deformation of amorphous/nanocrystalline CoCrFeNiMn high-entropy alloy (HEA) films is investigated through nanoindentation creep testing. It is suggested that dual-phase HEAs exhibit reduced creep strain compared to their monophase counterparts, and even surpass the performance of coarse-grained variants. This behavior arises from diffusion processes within the amorphous phase and the capacity for nucleation/annihilate of dislocations at amorphous/nanocrystalline interfaces. Furthermore, it is proposed that the presence of glass shell significantly influences the creep behavior of dual-phase HEAs.