Electrothermal, magnetic properties and microstructure of CrFeNiTi x compositionally complex alloys

In this article, the transformation laws of microstructural formation, phase evolution, electrothermal and magnetic properties in as-cast and annealed CrFeNiTi (x) compositionally complex alloys have been systematically investigated. The result showed that annealed CrFeNiTi (x) alloys consisted of the [Fe, Cr] solid solution (BCC), CrFeNi solid solution (FCC) and rich-(Ni, Ti) intermetallic compound (HCP). Transmission electron microscope indicated that the rich-(Ni, Ti) intermetallic nanoparticles, which were distributed on the disordered BCC [Fe, Cr] solid solution of CrFeNiTi0.4 alloy matrix, grew and transformed. For CrFeNiTi (x) alloys, the electrical resistivity increased with Ti addition and increase of thermal conductivity was presented with decreasing Ti content. In addition, annealed treatment could decrease electrical resistivity but increased thermal conductivity of as-cast alloys. Moreover, the CrFeNiTi (x) alloys exhibited typical soft-magnetic characteristic indicated by low coercivity. The saturation magnetization of as-cast and annealed CrFeNiTi (x) alloys rose at the beginning, then reduced with the addition of Ti content. It suggested that CrFeNiTi (x) alloys with major solid solutions showed the better soft-magnetic properties than those with major intermetallic compound, which is influenced by the crystal structure, phase boundaries and defects.