Synthesis and Characterization of Single Crystal Cantor-Like Alloys via Floating Zone Furnace

Bulk single crystals of advanced alloys are useful in a variety of structural applications (such as turbine blades) and enable fundamental studies of structure and properties that are difficult or impossible with polycrystalline specimens. Of particular recent interest are compositionally complex alloys (including multiple-principle-element alloys) such as equiatomic alloy CrCoFeMnNi. We report here the synthesis of bulk fcc single crystals of several alloys in this family, including FeNiCo, FeNiCr, and FeNiCoCr, by the floating zone technique. We report on measurements of the structure of these single crystals from Laue x-ray diffraction, reciprocal space mapping, and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), as well as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping of compositional homogeneity. Finally, we discuss the measurements of single-crystal elastic constants using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS).