On the Brittle-to-Ductile Transition of the As-Cast TiVNbTa Refractory High-Entropy Alloy

The fracture properties of as-cast TiVNbTa, a refractory high-entropy alloy (RHEA), were investigated using four-point bending tests from -139C to 20C under a strain-rate of 10-3 s-1. From those tests and fractography, the conditional fracture toughness values and the brittle-to-ductile transition temperature were obtained. The brittle-to-ductile transition temperature was between -47C to -27C, which gives an estimated activation energy value of 0.52+-0.09 eV for the alloy. This study provides a preliminary understanding of the nature of dislocation motion in a relatively ductile RHEA.