Structure and Properties of Multi-Layer Films of High-Entropy Metals Deposited by the Ion-Plasma Method

Abstract

The method for deposition of high entropy alloy (HEA) films is discussed. It consists in the film deposition on a substrate in vacuum from multi-component gas-metal plasma generated by a simultaneous independent vacuum-arc evaporation of the cathodes of selected elements in a plasma-assisted mode. It is shown that a variation of the discharge current of electric arc evaporators allows varying the element composition of HEA films within a wide range. It is found out that that the resulting films are single-phase materials with a bodycentered cubic (bcc) lattice, whose parameter varies from 0.31661 to 0.31959 nm and in a predictable manner depends on the element concentration in the alloy. The HEA films have a nanocrystalline structure; the coherent scattering regions (CSR) in them vary from 15.1 to 25.2 nm. The film microhardness depends on the concentration of chemical elements and varies within the range from 13.0 to 15.0 GPa.