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Improved Wear Resistance of a Heterogeneous CoCrNi Medium-Entropy Alloy at Cryogenic Temperature

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Abstract

Medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) exhibit excellent mechanical properties and unique deformation mechanism at cryogenic temperatures. However, limited studies have been conducted to explore their cryogenic temperature wear behaviors and thus hinder their further cryogenic applications. Here, we report a mono-phased heterogeneous CoCrNi MEA composed of fully recrystallized grains and non-recrystallized grains that shows a favorable combination of strength and ductility. Meanwhile, a decreased coefficient of friction and improved wear resistance are revealed with the decreasing temperatures (0 °C → –120 °C). The wear mechanism shows an apparent transition from brittle fracture to mild plastic deformation when temperature decreases. The enhancement of strength-ductility for heterogeneous CoCrNi MEA at lower temperature leads to a reduction of ploughing coefficient and superior plastic response, thus resulting in excellent wear resistance. The present work provides a convenient route for preparing strength-ductility balanced and wear-resistant alloys for cryogenic applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52175188, 52104386), Shanghai Sailing Program, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials (No. 20222412) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 3102019JC001).

Funding

The Natural Science Foundation of China, 52175188, Qing Zhou, 52104386, Yixuan He, Shanghai Sailing Program and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, 3102019JC001, Haifeng Wang, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, 20222412, Qing Zhou

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  1. Zhuobin Huang and Yue Ren have contributed equally.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Center of Advanced Lubrication and Seal Materials, Northwestern Polytechnical University, **’an, 710072, China

    Zhuobin Huang, Yue Ren, Dawei Luo, Qing Zhou, Yixuan He & Haifeng Wang

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of NPU, Shanghai, 201108, China

    Yixuan He

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  1. Zhuobin Huang
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Huang, Z., Ren, Y., Luo, D. et al. Improved Wear Resistance of a Heterogeneous CoCrNi Medium-Entropy Alloy at Cryogenic Temperature. Tribol Lett 70, 96 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-022-01643-x

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