Phase transitions and magnetic properties of Fe30Co29Ni29Zr7B4Cu1 high-entropy alloys

Abstract Phase transitions are widely observed in many metal materials including amorphous alloy and high-entropy alloys (HEAs). When HEAs are made in the amorphous form, is it possible for the amorphous phase to transition to simple solid solution? This paper reveals a phase transition from amorphous phase to body-centered cubic (bcc) phase and then to face-centered cubic (fcc) phase in Fe 30 Co 29 Ni 29 Zr 7 B 4 Cu 1 HEA by employing simple heat treatment process. Accordingly, the intrinsic correlation between the microstructure and soft-magnetic properties was established by excluding the composition interference. The explanation of mechanism behind the phase transitions was explored by first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations and other methods. This research suggests an approach of designing HEAs with excellent magnetic properties, and provides a prototype to study structure of amorphous alloys.