Microstructure and Properties of Additively Manufactured AlCoCr(0.75)Cu(0.5)FeNi Multicomponent Alloy: Controlling Magnetic Properties by Laser Powder Bed Fusion via Spinodal Decomposition

A non-equiatomic AlCoCr(0.75)Cu(0.5)FeNi alloy has been identified as a potential high strength alloy, whose microstructure and consequently properties can be widely varied. In this research, the phase structure, hardness, and magnetic properties of AlCoCr(0.75)Cu(0.5)FeNi alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) are investigated. The results demonstrate that laser power, scanning speed, and volumetric energy density (VED) contribute to different aspects in the formation of microstructure thus introducing alterations in the properties. Despite the different input parameters studied, all the as-built specimens exhibit the body-centered cubic (BCC) phase structure, with the homogeneous elemental distribution at the micron scale. A microhardness of up to 604.6 ± 6.8 HV0.05 is achieved owing to the rapidly solidified microstructure. Soft magnetic behavior is determined in all as-printed samples. The saturation magnetization (M(s)) is dependent on the degree of spinodal decomposition, i.e., the higher degree of decomposition into A2 and B2 structure results in a larger M(s). The results introduce the possibility to control the degree of spinodal decomposition and thus the degree of magnetization by altering the input parameters of the LPBF process. The disclosed application potentiality of LPBF could benefit the development of new functional materials.