Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Construction materials must benot only durable, but also plastic, and also resistant to destruction. As the study authors note, a compromise usually has to be made. However, the new material combines all three indicators. One of its amazing properties is that instead of becoming brittle at low temperatures, its strength increases.
The alloy belongs to the subgroup of high-entropyclass of metals (HES). They are made from an equal mixture of each constituent element, unlike conventional alloys. There, one element “dominates” over the rest. This ultimately gives the material a high combination of strength and ductility under load.
The metal has impressive performanceimpact strength. Let us recall that the impact strength of a metal is the ability of a material to absorb kinetic energy during the process of deformation and destruction under the influence of an impact load. As a rule, it can lead to plastic and non-plastic deformations.
Impact strength of CrCoNi near liquid temperatureshelium (20 Kelvin, −253.15 °C) reaches 500 MPa*m (megapascals per meter). In the same units, the impact strength of a piece of silicon is equal to one, the aluminum frame of passenger aircraft is about 35, and some types of steel are about 100. “Definitely 500 is an incredible figure,” the researchers write.
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On the cover:Microscopy images show the fracture trajectory and accompanying deformation of the crystalline structure in a CrCoNi alloy on a nanometer scale during stress testing at 20 Kelvin.
Credit: Robert Ritchie/Berkeley Lab