Nanocrystalline CoCrFeNiMn high-entropy alloy with tunable ferromagnetic properties

Abstract A nanocrystalline CoCrFeNiMn high-entropy alloy (nc-HEA) with nano-multiphase structure was prepared by inert gas condensation (IGC) using a laser evaporation source. Encouragingly, the laser-IGC nc-HEA exhibits unexpected ferromagnetic behavior and the Curie temperature (Tc) increased nearly 10 times compared to any CoCrFeNiMn HEAs prepared by various other methods. In addition, the saturation magnetization (Ms) and Tc of the laser-IGC nc-HEA can be controlled via heat treatment, which is resulting from the formation and structural evolution of magnetic nanophases during annealing. This work widens the design toolbox for high-performance nc-HEAs based upon laser-IGC technique.