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Nonequilibrium chemical short-range order in metallic alloys

Author

Listed:
  • Mahmudul Islam

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Killian Sheriff

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Yifan Cao

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Rodrigo Freitas

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Metallic alloys are routinely subjected to nonequilibrium processes during manufacturing, such as rapid solidification and thermomechanical processing. It has been suggested in the high-entropy alloy literature that chemical short-range order (SRO) could offer a new knob to tailor materials properties. While evidence of the effect of SRO on materials properties accumulates, the state of SRO evolution during alloy manufacturing remains obscure. Here, we employ high-fidelity atomistic simulations to track SRO evolution during the solidification and thermomechanical processing of alloys. Our investigation reveals that alloy processing can lead to nonequilibrium steady-states of SRO that are different from any equilibrium state. The mechanism behind nonequilibrium SRO formation is shown to be an inherent ordering bias present in nonequilibrium events. These results demonstrate that conventional manufacturing processes provide pathways for tuning SRO that lead to a broad nonequilibrium spectrum of SRO states beyond the equilibrium design space of alloys.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahmudul Islam & Killian Sheriff & Yifan Cao & Rodrigo Freitas, 2025. "Nonequilibrium chemical short-range order in metallic alloys," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64733-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64733-z
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