A lightweight refractory complex concentrated alloy with high strength and uniform ductility

Advanced alloys with lightweight, gigapascal strength, and sufficient ductility are vitally crucial for engineering applications. However, the intrinsic conflicts between strength and ductility or strength and density cause a big challenge to improve the comprehensive performance of alloys. In the current study, we adopt a two-step method to overcome this trade-off by tailoring the atomic mixing of lightweight elements and refractory elements to form a lightweight refractory complex concentrated alloy (LRCCA). Then, a lightweight, high-strength, intrinsically ductile complex concentrated matrix (LRCCM) alloy is developed, modified with nano/submicron multicomponent intermetallic compound particles (MICPs). The developed MICPs-LRCCM exhibits a high yield strength, sufficient ductility and a relative low density (∼5.9 g/cm³), as well as high specific strength of ∼230 MPa·cm³/g. High solution strengthening together with precipitation are simultaneously operated in the MICPs-LRCCM. Our results provide a guidance for designing high-performance lightweight alloys for structural applications.