Materials Science and Engineering B 163 (2009) 184–189

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Materials Science and Engineering B

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Short communication

Microstructure, thermophysical and electrical properties in Alx CoCrFeNi

(0 ≤ x ≤2) high-entropy alloys
Hsuan-Ping Chou a , Yee-Shyi Chang a , Swe-Kai Chen b,∗ , Jien-Wei Yeh a
a
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
b
Center for Nanotechnology, Materials Science, and Microsystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Alx CoCrFeNi (0 ≤ x ≤2) alloys were prepared by an arc remelter and investigated. With increasing x, the
Received 8 September 2008 Alx CoCrFeNi alloys change from single FCC phase to single BCC phase with a transition duplex FCC/BCC
Received in revised form 25 March 2009 region. The weak X-ray diffraction intensities indicate severe X-ray scattering effect of lattice in these
Accepted 24 May 2009
high-entropy alloys. Electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity much smaller than those of pure
component metals is ascribed as due to this lattice effect. The behavior of electrical conductivity and
Keywords:
thermal conductivity can be divided into three parts according to microstructure. Both values of electri-
Aluminum content
cal conductivity and thermal conductivity decrease with increasing x in single-phase regions. Values of
Electrical measurements
Thermal properties
electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity are even higher than those in the duplex phase region
High-entropy alloy because of the additional scattering effect of FCC/BCC phase boundaries in the alloys. Relative contribu-
tion of electron and phonon to electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity is evaluated in this study. It
is shown that both electron and phonon components are comparable in these high-entropy alloys, and
their transport properties are similar to that of semi-metal.
© 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction temperatures in 4–300 K, and solely by phonon at temperatures

High-entropy alloy is a new alloy design that was invented by
Yeh et al. [1,2] in 1995. High-entropy alloy generally contains 5–13
major elements whose concentration is between 5 and 35 at.%.
Studies have shown that high-entropy alloy has novel properties
compared to conventional alloys [2–6]. These properties include
good thermal stability, easier to form nano-scale precipitation, high
hardness, and superior resistance to wear, corrosion and oxida-
tion. High-entropy alloy possesses simple crystal structure with
solid solution of multiple elements. Previous works show that
Alx CoCrFeNi alloys change from FCC to BCC and the hardness
increases from Hv 120 to Hv 520 as x increases [7].
Although a large number of studies have been done on
microstructure and mechanical properties, there are few studies
regarding the thermal and electrical properties of the high-entropy
alloys [7–9]. Therefore in this study electrical resistivity and ther-
mal conductivity of Alx CoCrFeNi alloys are investigated. Results
are discussed in terms of Al content, temperature, and microstruc-
ture. It shows that Alx CoCrFeNi alloys easily form simple phase. The
electrical resistivity of Alx CoCrFeNi alloys is principally controlled
by electron–electron interaction, magnetic effect, and phonon at
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 3 574 2569.
E-mail address: skchen@mx.nthu.edu.tw (S.-K. Chen).
in 300–400 K. The phonon contribution to thermal conductivity
actually is comparable with the electronic contribution. The ratio
of phonon to electronic contribution ranges from 0.64 to 2.66 as
x increases. Thermal expansion measurements show invar-type
thermal expansion anomaly indicting that the alloys are of ferro-
magnetic with Curie temperatures ranging from 781.2 K to 869.2 K.
2. Experimental procedure
Al, Co, Cr, Fe, and Ni with purity larger than 99.5% are used. A total
of 40–50 g materials were used to prepared Alx CoCrFeNi (0 ≤ x ≤ 2)
alloys by vacuum arc-smelter. After the alloys were re-melted, they
were turned over to melt at least three times to insure that the
alloys were well mixed. As-cast alloys were heated with a rate of
10 ◦ C/min to 1100 ◦ C and stayed for 24 h. Then the samples were
water quenched.
The crystal structure was identified by RIGAKU ME510-FM2
X-ray diffractometer. The 1.5405 Å Cu target was used, and the
working voltage and current were 30 kV and 20 mA, respectively.
The scanning rate was 4◦ min−1 , and the 2 scanning range was
20–100◦ . Lattice parameter, ao , for each x-alloy in Alx CoCrFeNi
(0 ≤ x ≤ 2) is obtained by using a() = ao (1 + K cos2 /sin ) in the
a() plot [10]. High-temperature XRD (HTXRD) at an interval of
50 ◦ C from 500 ◦ C to 700 ◦ C was performed with a heating rate of
20 ◦ C/min and a holding time for 1/2 h at testing temperature before

0921-5107/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mseb.2009.05.024
 H.-P. Chou et al. / Materials Science and Engineering B 163 (2009) 184–189 185

examination. Test pieces were compacted filing powders of 0.4 mm

thick, and were vacuum-annealed under 10−3 torr at 500 ◦ C for 5 h
before HTXRD.
Four-point probe method was used to measure the electrical
resistance (R). Platinum wires with radius of 0.05 mm were con-
nected to the samples by Indium. The heating rate was 10 K/min,
and the electrical resistance was measured from 300 K to 400 K.
The error is estimated to ±3%.
The alloy density was determined by the Archimedes method. A
differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to measure vari-
ation of heat capacity with temperature. Thermal diffusivity was
measured by means of the laser flash method from 298 K to 573 K.
Accuracy is within ±0.8%. The samples were prepared in disk with
diameter of 12.7 mm and thickness of 2 mm.
As-surface polished samples for measurement of thermal
expansion coefficient are of 4 mm in diameter, and 4 mm in thick-
ness, and with good surface finish. Measurements were carried out
in Du Pont TMA 2940 with 10 ◦ C/min of heating from 25 ◦ C to 800 ◦ C
and under 400 sccm of Ar flow. Pyris Diamond TG/DTA of the Perkin-
Elmer Instruments was used to examine phase change of samples of
20–50 mg in an Al2 O3 crucible at temperatures from 25 ◦ C to 900 ◦ C
at a rate of heating of 10 ◦ C/min and under 400 sccm of Ar flow.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. XRD

Fig. 1 shows XRD patterns of Alx CoCrFeNi alloys. It indi-

cates that alloys are single-FCC, duplex FCC/BCC, and single-BCC
for 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.375, 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1, and 1.25 ≤ x ≤ 2, respectively. Al is
also a BCC stabilizer in Alx CoCrFeNi alloys as well as in
Alx Coy Crz Cu0.5 Fev Niw alloys [11]. However, in the presence of
Cu in Alx Coy Crz Cu0.5 Fev Niw alloys segregation of Cu is generally
observed. Therefore we omit the Cu addition in this study. Table 1
tabulates crystal structures, lattice parameters, weight fractions of
FCC and BCC phases in duplex region and relative XRD intensity
in both single-FCC and single-BCC regions. It is seen that only FCC Fig. 1. XRD patterns for Alx CoCrFeNi alloys. (a) All alloys, and (b) main peak in single-
and/or BCC are present, whether in single-phase or in duplex-phase phase alloys, i.e. (1 1 1) for FCC and (1 1 0) for BCC, are shown. The shaded area in
H-0 in (b) indicates how the relative intensity in the XRD peaks is calculated.
form, in Alx CoCrFeNi alloys. Both lattice parameters in single-phase
regions increase with increase in x, as well as those in duplex region,
which increase roughly with x, while the relative XRD intensity in scattering effect is explained due to larger lattice distortion caused
both single-phase regions decreases with x. The relative XRD inten- by larger amount of larger atomic size (1.43 Å in radius) of Al into
sity in both single-phase regions decreases with x tells one that the lattice of smaller atoms (about 1.25 Å in radius for other atoms).
the X-ray diffusive scattering effect increases with increasing Al The phenomenon also presents in Cu–Ni–Al–Co–Cr–Fe–Si alloy sys-
addition in both single-phase regions (see Fig. 1(b)). The diffusive tem, as alloys in this system increase their component from binary
to 7-component due to the difference from addition of different
Table 1 atoms that causes lattice distortion the degree of diffuse of X-ray
Crystal structure, lattice constant a, weight fraction %, and XRD intensity of scattering increases and the intensities decrease significantly [12].
Alx CoCrFeNi alloys. Relative XRD intensity is area ratio of (1 1 1) peak of FCC phase, This effect is considered important in explaining the behavior of
to (1 1 0) peak of BCC phase. both thermal and electrical conductivity that will discuss below.
H-x Structure a (Å) Weight fraction (%) Intensity ratio

H-0 FCC 3.580 – 1 3.2. Electrical resistivity

H-0.25 FCC 3.592 – 0.64
H-0.375 FCC 3.596 – 0.58 Fig. 2(a) is a plot of electrical resistivity as a function of tempera-
H-0.5 FCC 3.601 82.41 –
BCC 2.899 17.59 –
ture. It is seen in Fig. 2(a), the electrical resistivity is approximately
a linear function of temperature with a positive slope in the tem-
H-0.75 FCC 3.605 73.68 –
perature range of 298–400 K. This indicates that the electrical
BCC 2.876 26.32 –
resistivity of the alloys is principally affected by phonon and the
H-0.875 FCC 3.613 43.98 – temperature range is above the Debye temperature of the alloys
BCC 2.879 56.02 –
from the conventional theory of electrical resistivity [13]. Fig. 2(c)
H-1 FCC 3.611 15.61 – shows the electrical conductivity as a function of composition x in
BCC 2.884 84.39 –
Alx CoCrFeNi. The electrical conductivity  for Alx CoCrFeNi can be
H-1.25 BCC 2.873 – 1 divided in three parts according to microstructure of the alloys. As
H-1.5 BCC 2.885 – 0.70 discussed in previous section the microstructure has three regions,
H-2 BCC 2.894 – 0.28
single-FCC in 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.375, single-BCC in 1.25 ≤ x ≤2, and duplex
186 H.-P. Chou et al. / Materials Science and Engineering B 163 (2009) 184–189
Fig. 2. Diagrams for (a) electrical resistivity at temperatures in 300–400 K, (b) elec-
trical resistivity at temperatures in 4–400 K, and (c) electrical conductivity vs. x in
Alx CoCrFeNi alloys.
FCC–BCC in 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1. The electrical conductivity decreases with
increasing x in single-phase regions, while it has a minimum at
x = 0.875 in the duplex phase region. The electrical conductivity in
the duplex phase region is smaller than that in the single-phase
region.
Electrical resistivity of materials is generally controlled by vari-
ous factors such as temperature and composition [14–16]. For alloys
at temperatures lower than the Debye temperature where thermal
effect is low, electrical resistivity is influenced by electron–electron
interaction (T1/2 ), magnetic effect (T2 ), and phonon (T3 ). At tem-
perature very near absolute zero temperature a Kondo-type term,
ln T, may appear in the expression of electrical resistivity for dilute
magnetic atoms in nonmagnetic alloys [13]. At intermediate tem-
peratures, e.g., 100–200 K, T and T2 may contribute to electrical
resistivity. At temperatures higher than the Debye temperature
where thermal effect is significant, electrical resistivity is propor-
tional to temperature T, and electrical resistivity  may be written as
 = o + cT [16]. Fig. 2(b) shows electrical resistivity at temperatures
in 4–400 K for Alx CoCrFeNi (x = 1, 1.5 and 2) alloys. Because of uncon-
trollable experimental reasons there is deviation for data at 300 K.
However, we still can see the effect of temperature on the electrical
resistivity. It is concluded that electrical resistivity of Alx CoCrFeNi
(x = 0–2) alloys is principally controlled by electron–electron inter-
action (T1/2 ), magnetic effect (T2 ), and phonon (T3 ) at temperatures
in 4–300 K, and by phonon (T) at temperatures in 300–400 K.
3.3. Thermal conductivity
This part of study aims to understand the thermal conductivity
(T) of Alx CoCrFeNi (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) alloys. The relation between (T) and
T is first discussed. Then the Wiedemann–Franz law is applied to
examine the phonon to electronic contribution to thermal conduc-
tivity.
Thermal conductivity (T) is generally obtained from measure-
ments of thermal diffusion coefficient ˛(T), specific heat S(T), and
density (T) of a material at a temperature T, and then calculated
according to equation (T) = ˛(T) × S(T) × (T) [17]. It is a measure
of thermal conducting capability of a material. Fig. 3(a) shows
thermal conductivity of alloys in this study as a function of temper-
ature. It is seen that (T) for Alx CoCrFeNi (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) alloys increases
with temperature, contrary to that of pure metal. For pure met-
als the collision frequency of electrons with phonons of lattices
increases with temperature, enabling a shorter mean free path,
and a decrease in thermal conductivity. Due to a smaller carrier
concentration (1019 –1021 cm−3 in temperature range of 4–300 K),
carrier concentration decreasing with temperature [7] and lattice
distortion effect that making a low sensitivity of phonon concentra-
tion with respect to temperature as well as a larger linear thermal
expansion in these alloys, the mean free path of electrons increases
with temperature. This explains why (T) for Alx CoCrFeNi (0 ≤ x ≤ 2)
alloys increases with temperature in Fig. 3(a). Fig. 3(b) shows ther-
mal conductivity of alloys as a function of x. At a specific T, (x)
decreases with x in each single-phase region for both FCC and BCC
regions, and (BCC) is greater than (FCC). Thermal conductivity
in the FCC + BCC duplex region, (FCC + BCC) is the lowest for each
specific T. This phenomenon is easily understood. Since in each
single-phase region, and the larger scattering effect for larger lattice
distortion due to Al addition evidenced from the above-mentioned
XRD patterns, therefore (x) decreases with x in each single-phase
region for both FCC and BCC regions at a specific T. The BCC struc-
ture possesses more open space (32%) than the FCC structure does
(26%) as well as a higher Young’s modulus E, and a higher phonon
velocity, ph = (E/)1/2 , (BCC) is greater than (FCC) accordingly.
Because there exists a more interface boundary in duplex-phase
region than in single-phase region, the thermal conductivity in the
FCC + BCC duplex region, (FCC + BCC), is the lowest for each specific
T.
In pure metals thermal conductivity is mainly from electronic
contribution at all temperatures. At not too low temperatures
according to the Wiedemann–Franz law (WF law), / = LT, the
ratio of thermal conductivity to electrical conductivity is directly
 H.-P. Chou et al. / Materials Science and Engineering B 163 (2009) 184–189 187

Table 2
Electron and phonon contributions to thermal conductivity.

H-x e (W/m K) ph (W/m K) ph /e

H-0 6.9–8.8 4.7–5.7 0.68–0.64

H-0.25 5.5–7.1 5.7–7.0 1.04–0.99
H-0.375 4.9–6.3 5.6–7.1 1.14–1.13
H-0.5 4.6–6.0 5.8–7.2 1.26–1.20
H-0.75 4.5–5.9 6.0–7.0 1.33–1.19
H-0.875 4.3–5.6 6.4–6.6 1.49–1.18
H-1 4.5–5.7 6.5–7.1 1.44–1.25
H-1.25 5.6–7.2 14.6–15.3 2.61–2.12
H-1.5 5.0–6.6 14.3–14.5 2.66–2.20
H-2 4.7–6.1 11.0–12.2 2.34–2.00

Table 3
Carrier concentration ne , resistivity , and contribution for thermal conduction  for
different materials.

Material ne (cm−3 )  (␮ cm) Contribution of 

Metal 1022 –1023 1–102 ␬e  ␬ph

Semi-metal 1017 –1021 101 –102 ␬e  ␬ph
Semiconductor 1013 –1016 104 –1015 ␬e  ␬ph
Insulator <1013 >1020 ␬ph
Alx CoCrFeNi 1019 –1021 102 ␬e  ␬ph

d can be written as d = (3g/4c2 )kB T under a potential energy of

a form U(d) = cd2 + gd3 , where d is a displacement equilibrium sep-
aration for atoms at absolute zero, and c and g are positive [22].
Therefore the thermal expansion coefficient of as-homogenized
Alx CoCrFeNi alloys decreases with x means that (3g/4c2 ) decreases
with x in alloys. Fig. 5 shows variation of thermal expansion of as-
homogenized Alx CoCrFeNi alloys with temperature in the range
of 423–1073 K. In this figure except curves for H-0.875 and H-
1 that have two minima, i.e., 781.2 K and 940 K, and 844.1 K and
920 K, respectively, all curves have only single minimum. In order
to understand this anomaly in CTE we performed high-temperature
XRD (HTXRD) from 773 K to 973 K, and DTA from 300 K to about
1200 K to examine in situ microstructure and to look for exis-
Fig. 3. Diagrams for curves of thermal conductivity as a function of temperature (a),
tence of phase transformation, respectively. Fig. 6 presents results
and as a function of x in Alx CoCrFeNi alloys (b), respectively. of DTA (Fig. 6(a)) and HTXRD (Fig. 6(b)). For comparison simplic-
ity in Fig. 6(a), we show only two DTA tracing curves for H-0.875
and H-1 that have two minima in Fig. 5, and one DTA tracing curve
proportional to temperature, with the value L of the constant of pro- for H-0.75 that has typically one minimum in Fig. 5. One can easily
portionality independent of the particular metal [13,18]. In impure see one minimum in each DTA tracing curve for H-0.875 (930 K)
or disordered alloys such as alloys in this study, electron mean free and H-1 (910 K), while there is no such minimum for H-0.75 in the
path is reduced by collision with impurities, and the phonon con-
tribution may be comparable with the electronic contribution [13].
In this case, the  term is divided in two parts,  = e + ph , where
e is the electronic part and ph is the phonon part [19,20]. There-
fore, the value of L (Fig. 4) may be written as L = Le + Lph , where Le is
the proportionality contributed by electrons, Lph that by phonons,
and Le = Lo = 2.45 × 10−8 W /K2 , the Lorenz number. If we rewrite
WF law as  = e + ph = LT = (Lo + Lph )T, we may use this equation
and from related experimental data to calculate e and ph from
e = Lo T and ph = Lph T, respectively. The results of calculation
are listed in Table 2. Table 2 indicates that the phonon contribution
to thermal conductivity, ph , is actually comparable with the elec-
tronic contribution, e . The ratio of ph /e ranges from 0.64 to 2.66
for Alx CoCrFeNi alloys in this study. Table 3 lists the carrier con-
centration, resistivity, and comparison of e with ph , for various
materials. It shows that Alx CoCrFeNi alloys are of semi-metals.

3.4. Thermal expansion

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of as-homogenized

Alx CoCrFeNi alloys decreases with x (Table 4). According to the the-
ory of thermal expansion, in lowest order the thermal expansion Fig. 4. Lorenz numbers for Alx CoCrFeNi alloys vs. temperature.
188 H.-P. Chou et al. / Materials Science and Engineering B 163 (2009) 184–189

Fig. 7. Monotonic decrease in coefficient of thermal-expansion (CTE in 10−6 K−1 ) vs.

Fig. 5. Variation of thermal expansion coefficient with temperature of Alx CoCrFeNi
alloys. The maximum and minimum values are shown at the upper left-hand side of
each curve, and the Curie temperature is shown in the gray region. Note that there
is another “valley” for H-0.875 and H-1 in the figure. The interval in CTE coordinate
is 15 × 10−6 K−1 .
x in Alx CoCrFeNi alloys. Note that slope of CTE in FCC structure is higher than that of
in BCC structure.
testing temperature range, indicating that H-0.875 and H-1 have
phase transition in the range of testing temperatures, while H-0.75
does not. The phase transition for H-0.875 was checked by in situ
XRD from 773 K to 973 K at an interval of 50 K and is shown in
Fig. 6(b), and is identified as precipitation of ␴ phase that has a NiC-
oCr structure and is present at temperatures higher than 873 K. This
temperature is lower than the transition temperature (930–940 K)
obtained from CTE and DTA, but is higher than the temperature
(781.2 K) of the first minimum in CTE curve. Since the precipitation
of ␴ phase is a diffusion process, especially for multicomponent
alloys [23], its occurrence will delay during CTE and DTA measure-
ments. It is no wonder that the transition temperature (930–940 K)
obtained from CTE and DTA must be higher than 873 K (Fig. 7).
The first minimum in CTE curves is attributed as caused by the
invar-type thermal expansion anomaly, i.e., as temperature rises
in addition to the normal thermal expansion due to anharmonic
effects in crystals, there is an additional portion of expansion due to
magnetic ordering [24–26]. This portion of expansion due to mag-
netic ordering decreases with degree of disordering as temperature
increases, and vanishes at Curie or Néel temperature and higher
temperatures so that there is a minimum in CTE at Curie or Néel
temperature. Alx CoCrFeNi alloys are ferromagnetic [7], showing
the invar-type thermal expansion anomaly. The Curie temperatures
obtained from the invar effect in CTE measurements show slightly
increase with x in the FCC- and BCC-single-phase regions, while
there is a minimum for Curie temperature in the duplex FCC + BCC

Table 4
Data collection for coefficient of thermal expansion (10−6 K−1 ) and Curie tempera-
ture Tc (K) for metals Al, Fe and Ni [21], and Alx CoCrFeNi alloys.

CTE (10−6 K−1 ) Tc (K)

293–303 K 368–378 K 423–773 K

Al 23.4 24.8 – –
Fe 11.8 12.0 – 1043
Ni 12.5 13.5 – 627
H-0 11.25 15.09 16.40 844.5
H-0.25 9.74 14.73 16.01 864.2
H-0.375 9.01 14.39 15.75 868.1
H-0.5 9.23 13.99 14.87 837.0
H-0.75 9.17 13.41 14.14 787.8
Fig. 6. (a) DTA curves of Alx CoCrFeNi alloys for x = 0.75, 0.875, and 1. (b) HTXRD H-0.875 9.08 12.94 13.92 781.2
patterns for Al0.875 CoCrFeNi alloy at temperatures from 773 K to 973 K, showing the H-1 9.03 12.47 13.54 844.1
presence of another phase, ␴ = NiCoCr, except ␣ and ␥ solid solution phases at tem- H-1.25 8.97 11.97 13.35 847.5
perature 923 K and 973 K, and indicating precipitation of ␴ at temperature equal to H-1.5 8.95 11.88 13.01 856.4
or higher than 873 K. H-2 8.84 11.71 12.85 869.2
 H.-P. Chou et al. / Materials Science and Engineering B 163 (2009) 184–189
Fig. 8. Curve for Curie temperature and molecular field vs. x in Alx CoCrFeNi alloys.
The results are obtained from analysis of CTE and XRD data.
structure region in this study (Fig. 8). By use of the invar effect to
measure this second order phase transition one can have accurate
data for Curie temperature. We also estimate the corresponding
molecular field of the order of 107 Oe shown in Fig. 8 by assuming
the magnetization of each alloy being with one Bohr magneton [27].
4. Conclusions
1. Weak X-ray diffraction intensities suggest severe X-ray scat-
tering effect in Alx CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloys. They also
decrease with increasing aluminum content in single-phase
regions because of the increasing X-ray scattering effect.
2. Electrical resistivity of Alx CoCrFeNi alloys increases with increas-
ing temperature, and is linearly proportional to temperature
because of increasing phonon–electron effect. The electrical
resistivity of temperature dependence in high-entropy alloys is
similar to that of conventional alloys.
3. Thermal conductivity of Alx CoCrFeNi alloys increases with
increasing temperature. In duplex phases region, there are more
barriers to carriers because of large amount of phase boundaries
in the alloys, and thus conductivity is smaller than that in single-
phase region. When volume fraction of FCC and BCC is equivalent,
the conductivity has the minimum value.
4. Because of the severe X-ray scattering effect, electrical conduc-
tivity and thermal conductivity for Alx CoCrFeNi alloys are much
smaller than for pure metals. According to carrier concentration,
electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity, phonon content
of the thermal conductivity is equivalent to electron content in
high-entropy alloys, and their transport properties are similar to
those of semi-metals.
5. Coefficients of thermal expansion for Alx CoCrFeNi alloys relate
closely to atomic bonding. CTEs decrease with x in this study.
6. Alx CoCrFeNi alloys are ferromagnetic, showing the invar-type
thermal expansion anomaly, i.e., as temperature rises in addi-
tion to the normal thermal expansion due to anharmonic effects
in crystals, there is an additional portion of expansion due to
189
magnetic ordering. This portion of expansion due to magnetic
ordering decreases with degree of disordering as temperature
increases, and vanishes at Curie or Néel temperature and higher
temperatures so that there is a minimum in CTE at Curie or Néel
temperature. The Curie temperatures obtained from the invar
effect in CTE measurements show slightly increase with x in the
FCC- and BCC-single-phase regions, while there is a minimum
for Curie temperature in the duplex FCC + BCC structure region
in this study.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from
National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC96-2221-E007-066-MY3).
We also thank Dr. Yang-Chung Liao, Profs. Mow-Kuen Wu, Cheng-
Chung Chi, and Chien-Nen Liao for giving help in this study.
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