TY - JOUR A1 - Smekhova, A. A1 - Kuzmin, A. A1 - Siemensmeyer, K. A1 - Luo, C. A1 - Chen, K. A1 - Radu, F. A1 - Weschke, E. A1 - Reinholz, Uwe A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Yusenko, Kirill T1 - Al-driven peculiarities of local coordination and magnetic properties in single-phase Alx-CrFeCoNi high-entropy alloys N2 - Modern design of superior multi-functional alloys composed of several principal components requires in-depth studies of their local structure for developing desired macroscopic properties. Herein, peculiarities of atomic arrangements on the local scale and electronic states of constituent elements in the single-phase face-centered cubic (fcc)- and body-centered cubic (bcc)-structured high-entropy Alx-CrFeCoNi alloys (x = 0.3 and 3, respectively) are explored by element-specific X-ray absorption spectroscopy in hard and soft X-ray energy ranges. Simulations based on the reverse Monte Carlo approach allow to perform a simultaneous fit of extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectra recorded at K absorption edges of each 3d constituent and to reconstruct the local environment within the first coordination shells of absorbers with high precision. The revealed unimodal and bimodal distributions of all five elements are in agreement with structure-dependent magnetic properties of studied alloys probed by magnetometry. A degree of surface atoms oxidation uncovered by soft X-rays suggests different kinetics of oxide formation for each type of constituents and has to be taken into account. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism technique employed at L2,3 absorption edges of transition metals demonstrates reduced magnetic moments of 3d metal constituents in the sub-Surface region of in situ cleaned fcc-structured Al0.3-CrFeCoNi compared to their bulk values. Extended to nanostructured versions of multicomponent alloys, such studies would bring new insights related to effects of high entropy mixing on low dimensions. KW - X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) KW - High-entropy alloys KW - Reverse Monte Carlo KW - Magnetism KW - Element-specific spectroscopy KW - Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-530668 SN - 1998-0124 VL - 15 IS - 6 SP - 4845 EP - 4858 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-53066 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Smekhova, A. A1 - Kuzmin, A. A1 - Siemensmeyer, K. A1 - Abrudan, R. A1 - Reinholz, Uwe A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Schneider, M. A1 - Laplanche, G. A1 - Yusenko, Kirill T1 - Inner relaxations in equiatomic single-phase high-entropy Cantoralloy N2 - The superior properties of high-entropy multi-functional materials are strongly connected with their atomic heterogeneity through many different local atomic interactions. The detailed element-specific studies on a local scale can provide insight into the primary arrangements of atoms in multicomponent systems and benefit to unravel the role of individual components in certain macroscopic properties of complex compounds. Herein, multi-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy combined with reverse Monte Carlo simulations was used to explore a homogeneity of the local crystallographic ordering and specific structure relaxations of each constituent in the equiatomic single-phase facecentered cubic CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy at room temperature. Within the considered fitting approach, all five elements of the alloy were found to be distributed at the nodes of the fcc lattice without any signatures of the additional phases at the atomic scale and exhibit very close statistically averaged interatomic distances (2.54 – 2.55 Å) with their nearest-neighbors. Enlarged structural displacements were found solely for Cr atoms. The macroscopic magnetic properties probed by conventional magnetometry demonstrate no opening of the hysteresis loops at 5 K and illustrate a complex character of the long-range magnetic order after field-assisted cooling in ± 5 T. The observed magnetic behavior is assigned to effects related to structural relaxations of Cr. Besides, the advantages and limitations of the reverse Monte Carlo approach to studies of multicomponent systems like high-entropy alloys are highlighted. KW - Magnetism KW - High-entropy alloys KW - Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) KW - Element-specific spectroscopy KW - Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) KW - X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) PY - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.165999 SN - 0925-8388 VL - 920 SP - 1 EP - 31 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-55457 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Smekhova, A. A1 - Kuzmin, A. A1 - Siemensmeyer, K. A1 - Luo, C. A1 - Taylor, J. A1 - Thakur, S. A1 - Radu, F. A1 - Weschke, E. A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana A1 - Xiao, B. A1 - Savan, A. A1 - Yusenko, Kirill A1 - Ludwig, A. T1 - Local structure and magnetic properties of a nanocrystalline Mn-rich Cantor alloy thin film down to the atomic scale N2 - The huge atomic heterogeneity of high-entropy materials along with a possibility to unravel the behavior of individual components at the atomic scale suggests a great promise in designing new compositionally complex systems with the desired multi-functionality. Herein, we apply multi-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD)) to probe the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of all individual constituents in the single-phase face-centered cubic (fcc)-structured nanocrystalline thin film of Cr20Mn26Fe18Co19Ni17 (at.%) high-entropy alloy on the local scale. The local crystallographic ordering and component-dependent lattice displacements were explored within the reverse Monte Carlo approach applied to EXAFS spectra collected at the K absorption edges of several constituents at room temperature. A homogeneous short-range fcc atomic environment around the absorbers of each type with very similar statistically averaged interatomic distances (2.54–2.55 Å) to their nearest-neighbors and enlarged structural relaxations of Cr atoms were revealed. XANES and XMCD spectra collected at the L2,3 absorption edges of all principal components at low temperature from the oxidized and in situ cleaned surfaces were used to probe the oxidation states, the changes in the electronic structure, and magnetic behavior of all constituents at the surface and in the sub-surface volume of the film. The spin and orbital magnetic moments of Fe, Co, and Ni components were quantitatively evaluated. The presence of magnetic phase transitions and the co-existence of different magnetic phases were uncovered by conventional magnetometry in a broad temperature range. KW - Magnetism KW - High-entropy alloys KW - Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) KW - Element-specific spectroscopy KW - Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), KW - X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-578254 SN - 1998-0124 SP - 5626 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-57825 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -