Nanostructured high entropy alloys – metals made from a chaotic mix of several different elements – show a lot of promise for use in industries such as aerospace and automotive because of their strength and stability at high temperatures compared with regular metals. But they are expensive and energy-intensive to produce. Now researchers working with the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) have found a much cheaper and easier way to make them, opening the door for commercial applications.
Michel Haché, a materials engineer at the University of Toronto, and colleagues confirmed that electrodeposition is a cost-effective and easily scaled way to create these alloys. Electrodeposition – which involves dissolving metal ions in water then using an electric current to pull them out of the liquid and form solid materials – is the same process that is used to make chrome-plated motorcycle parts. The findings are published in the journal Surface and Coatings Technology.
The U of T group found that alloys made of several different metals – nickel, iron, cobalt, tungsten, and molybdenum – could withstand temperatures up to 500oC, compared with just 270oC for pure nickel, and were stronger and harder than their less-complex counterparts. “We’re using chaos in the material structure to bring out interesting properties,” he says.
Read more on CLS website