Influence of High-Temperature Oxidizing Conditions on AlCoCrCuNi High Entropy Alloys with and without Silicon Addition

Initial investigations on oxidation behaviour and phase transformations of equimolar AlCoCrCuNi high entropy alloy with and without 1 at.% silicon addition during 24-hr exposure to air atmosphere at 1273 K was carried out in this work. After determining the oxidation kinetics of the samples by means of thermogravimetric analysis, the morphology, chemical and phase compositions of the oxidized alloys were determined by means of scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X- ray diffraction analysis. Additional cross-section studies were performed using transmission electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction. From all these investigations, it can be concluded that minor silicon addition improves the oxidation kinetics and hinders the formation of an additional FCC structure near the surface of the material.