Effect of aluminum element on microstructure evolution and properties of multicomponent Al-Co-Cr-Cu-Fe-Ni nanoparticles

Highlights: • The serials of nanoparticles are prepared by modified arc-discharge method. • The crystal structure changes with the aluminum content. • Corrosion resistance and magnetic behavior are related to the crystal structure. • The emergence of M₃Al-type L1₂ phase brings the best corrosion resistance. • The serials of nanoparticles show excellent soft magnetic property. A series of multicomponent Al-Co-Cr-Cu-Fe-Ni nanoparticles with different aluminum contents were prepared by modified arc-discharge method. The effect of Al element on crystal structure, microstructure, corrosion resistance, and soft magnetic properties were investigated. The evolution of phase structure changes from the initial single Cu-rich face-centered cubic (FCC) phase to FCC + M₃Al-type L1₂ phases, and eventually to FCC + body-centered cubic (BCC) phases with increasing Al contents. Moreover, the as-prepared nanoparticles are spherical with an average size of about 110–180 nm, and the chemical compositions of the nanoparticles greatly deviate from the nominal compositions of the targets. Furthermore, the corrosion resistance deteriorates and the soft magnetic behavior increases, when the structure changes from the simple FCC phase to a mixture of FCC and BCC phase. The emergence of M₃Al-type L1₂ phase in the FCC matrix brings the best corrosion resistance and the lowest soft magnetic property. The multicomponent nanoparticles with controllable structure and composition can be easily prepared by this method for particular applications.