Nonequilibrium chemical short-range order in metallic alloys

TL;DR

This paper uses atomistic simulations to reveal how manufacturing processes induce nonequilibrium chemical short-range order in metallic alloys, creating diverse states beyond equilibrium configurations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that alloy processing can produce nonequilibrium SRO states, expanding the understanding of how manufacturing influences alloy microstructure.

Findings

Alloy processing can create nonequilibrium steady-states of SRO.

Nonequilibrium SRO states differ from equilibrium configurations.

Inherent ordering bias drives nonequilibrium SRO formation.

Abstract

Metallic alloys are routinely subjected to nonequilibrium processes during manufacturing, such as rapid solidification and thermomechanical processing. It has been suggested in the high-entropy alloy literature that chemical short-range order (SRO) could offer a new knob to tailor materials properties. While evidence of the effect of SRO on materials properties accumulates, the state of SRO evolution during alloy manufacturing remains obscure. Here, we employ high-fidelity atomistic simulations to track SRO evolution during the solidification and thermomechanical processing of alloys. Our investigation reveals that alloy processing can lead to nonequilibrium steady-states of SRO that are different from any equilibrium state. The mechanism behind nonequilibrium SRO formation is shown to be an inherent ordering bias present in nonequilibrium events. These results demonstrate that conventional manufacturing processes provide pathways for tuning SRO that lead to a broad nonequilibrium spectrum of SRO states beyond the equilibrium design space of alloys.