Solid State Manufacture of High Entropy Alloys-Preliminary Studies

Abstract

For the past ten years Metalysis have produced tantalum, titanium and titanium alloy powders for high performance applications using their solid state salt electrolysis process. This low energy and environmentally friendly process is now being used to manufacture the next generation of High Entropy Alloys (HEAs).

In most cases the manufacture of HEAs involves high temperatures which put all of the alloying elements into the liquid phase. This can lead to numerous problems and restrict the number of HEAs which can be made, particularly the alloys where one needs to combine low melting point elements with refractory elements and also where there are significant liquid density differences between the constituents causing melt segregation.

The aim is to present the preliminary work carried out by Metalysis and to show how the solid state diffusion process based on molten salt electrolysis lends itself to the industrial scale manufacture of the next generation of HEAs. This study will focus on the HEAs whose constituent alloying elements have large differences in both their melting points and liquid densities, for example, chromium, niobium, tantalum, titanium and aluminum.