X-Ray and neutron diffraction patterns of the AlCrTiV high entropy alloy and quaternary Heusler structures

TL;DR

This study uses simulated X-ray and neutron diffraction patterns to clarify the structure of the AlCrTiV high entropy alloy, highlighting neutron diffraction's ability to distinguish chemical order and magnetic effects.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates how neutron diffraction can resolve conflicting structural interpretations of AlCrTiV and discusses magnetic contributions in its diffraction patterns.

Findings

Neutron diffraction effectively differentiates chemical order in AlCrTiV.

Simulated diffraction patterns clarify the alloy's structure.

Magnetic effects influence neutron diffraction results.

Abstract

The quaternary alloy AlCrTiV has been proposed as both a lightweight high entropy alloy and also a functional spin filter material based on the Heusler structure. Experimental investigations to-date, based on X-ray diffraction, offer conflicting interpretations of the structure. Here we simulate diffraction patterns of the various proposed structures to show that neutron diffraction, in particular, can reveal the nature of long-range chemical order and discriminate among distributions of the refractory transition metals. Magnetic contributions to the neutron diffraction are also discussed.