International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

Spall response of medium-entropy alloy CrCoNi under plate impact

A.R. Cui a,c , S.C. Hu c , S. Zhang c , J.C. Cheng e,d , Q. Li a ,∗, J.Y. Huang b ,∗, S.N. Luo d
a
School of Physics Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, PR China
b
MOE Key Laboratory of Impact and Safety Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, PR China
c
The Peac Institute of Multiscale Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China
d
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China
e Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Dynamic mechanical properties of high-entropy alloys (HEAs) or medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) under high
Medium entropy alloy strain rate loading are of increasing interest for their promising applications in dynamic extreme environments.
Spall strength Here, spall damage of a coarse-grained CrCoNi MEA with a face-centered-cubic structure is firstly investigated
Intergranular and intragranular damage
by combining plate impact experiments, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Yield strength, spall
Ductility
strength and spall-induced re-acceleration at different impact velocities are derived from free-surface velocity
history measurements. In addition, soft-recovered samples after spallation are characterized with scanning
electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. The CrCoNi MEA exhibits the highest spall strength
(around 4 GPa) among the MEAs/HEAs ever reported, with similar or better impact ductility compared to
the reported MEAs/HEAs. With increasing impact velocity, the dominant damage mode of the CrCoNi MEA
undergoes a gradual transition from intergranular damage, to mixed intergranular and intragranular damage,
and then to intragranular damage. MD simulations reveal multiple deformation mechanisms (dislocation slip,
stacking faults and twinning) for the CrCoNi MEA under impact loading, and show consistent spall damage
mode transition with the experimental observations. The excellent combination of spall strength and ductility
for the CrCoNi MEA is mainly attributed to the pronounced intragranular void nucleation followed by ductile
void growth and coalescence, ensuring broad application prospects of the CrCoNi MEA in impact scenarios.

1. Introduction
High- and medium-entropy alloys (HEAs/MEAs), prepared by mix-
ing three or more metallic elements [1], are emerging as promising
structural materials with desirable physical and mechanical properties,
such as high strength [2–4], excellent ductility [5–7] and high irradi-
ation resistance [8]. In the past few years, the mechanical properties
of HEAs and MEAs have been extensively investigated as motivated by
broad engineering applications in the future [1,9,10]. For high-speed
vehicle or aircraft applications where accidental impacts (e.g., bird
strikes and space-debris impacts) are inevitable and can be catas-
trophic [11], the dynamic or impact mechanical properties of HEAs and
MEAs are indispensable for safety evaluation, and material/structural
design optimization [12,13]. Nevertheless, the spall properties and
damage mechanisms have been rarely explored for HEAs and MEAs,
especially for the face-centered-cubic (FCC) CrCoNi MEA [14–18].
Dynamic mechanical properties of the CrCoNi MEA have been
widely obtained via split Hopkinson pressure/tension bar loading [19–
22]. However, the strain rates under such loading conditions (102 –104
s−1 ) do not reach those under extreme service conditions such as
high-speed impact [6,17,18] and blast [23–25] loading (104 –107 s−1 ).
Gas gun flyer-plate impact loading is a standard, well established,
method for very high strain-rate loading (104 –107 s−1 ). Shock com-
pression and spallation experiments with single-stage gas guns were
conducted on several HEAs and MEAs, including CrMnFeCoNi [26–28],
Fe50 Mn30 Co10 Cr10 [13], FeCrMnNi [29], Al0.1 CoCrFeNi [30], CoCr-
FeNi [18], AlCoCrFeNi2.1 [17], and Fe40 Mn20 Cr20 Ni20 [31].
Al0.1 CoCrFeNi [30] and AlCoCrFeNi2.1 [17] HEAs exhibit higher spall
strength and better impact ductility compared to Chinese steel Q235. It
is appealing to explore the spall response of the CrCoNi MEA in compar-
ison with those of the HEAs/MEAs reported previously; however, the
plate impact experiments on the CrCoNi MEA have not been reported at
present. Apart from experiments, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations
were adopted to investigate spallation of the CrCoNi MEA induced
by shock and release [14–16]. MD is superior in revealing atomic-
scale deformation and damage mechanisms during impact loading.
However, the strain rates in MD simulations are significantly higher

∗ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: qli@xju.edu.cn (Q. Li), jyhuang@pims.ac.cn (J.Y. Huang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2023.108331
Received 5 December 2022; Received in revised form 18 March 2023; Accepted 18 March 2023
Available online 24 March 2023
0020-7403/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A.R. Cui et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331

loading [19–21] at room or low temperatures. Given a relatively low

Nomenclature
stacking fault energy of the CrCoNi MEA [34,38,39], stacking faults
EAM Embedded-atom method and nano-twins are prone to form in the CrCoNi MEA under low-
EBSD Electron backscatter diffraction temperature or high-strain-rate loading, which results in its exceptional
EOS Hugoniot equation of state tensile strength and ductility [7,34,40]. For instance, deformation twin-
ning and strong interactions between twin boundaries and dislocations
FCC Face-centered cubic
result in excellent mechanical properties of the CrCoNi MEA under
HCP Hexagonal close-packed
dynamic shear (strain rate 8 × 104 s−1 ) [19]. However, the deformation
HEA High entropy alloy
and damage mechanisms of the CrCoNi MEA under plate impact have
HEL Hugoniot elastic limit not been explored experimentally. Previous MD simulations on the
IPF Inverse pole figure spallation of the CrCoNi MEA [16] show that the dynamic deformation
KAM Kernel average misorientation and damage mechanisms vary considerably under different impact ve-
LDV Laser Doppler velocimetry system locities. With increasing impact velocity, dislocation slip, deformation
MD Molecular dynamics twinning, and shock-induced amorphization occur sequentially in the
MEA Medium entropy alloy CrCoNi MEA; nano-voids prefer to nucleate at grain boundaries for
SEM Scanning electron microscopy a low impact velocity, and within grain interiors as well for a high
XRD X-ray diffraction impact velocity [14]. Systematic microstructural characterizations on
recovered samples after spallation can provide solid evidence for the
𝐶0 Hugoniot Parameter
evolution mechanisms of spall damage, ranging from incipient to full
𝐶0𝑖 Hugoniot parameter of the 𝑖th element
spallation, but are untouched.
𝐶B Bulk sound velocity
In this work, impact-induced spallation experiments along with MD
𝐶L Longitudinal sound velocity simulations are carried out on a CrCoNi MEA to study its spall strength
𝐶T Transverse sound velocity and damage, at different impact velocities. Peak stress, strain rate,
𝑅2 Coefficient of determination yield strength, spall strength and re-acceleration are derived from free-
𝑎r Re-acceleration surface velocity histories. ‘‘Soft-recovered’’ samples are characterized
ℎf Flyer plate thickness with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter
ℎs Sample thickness diffraction (EBSD). In addition, MD simulation is used to interpret
𝑚𝑖 Mass fraction of the 𝑖th element deformation and damage mechanisms under impact loading. The Cr-
𝑝 Probability density CoNi MEA exhibits the highest spall strength (around 4 GPa) among
𝑡 Time the MEAs/HEAs ever reported, with similar impact ductility to the
reported HEAs/MEAs. The damage mechanisms from incipient to full
𝑥 Local misorientation
spallation are discussed based on microstructural characterizations and
𝑢imp Impact velocity
MD simulation results, and are found to strongly depend on the impact
𝑢s Shock wave velocity
velocity.
𝑢s1 Elastic shock wave velocity
𝑢p Particle velocity 2. Experimental
𝑢p1 Particle velocity of elastic precursor
𝑢p2 Particle velocity of plastic shock The necessary experimental information, including the material
𝑢fs Free surface velocity (Section 2.1), the microstructural characterization methods (Section
𝑢HEL Particle velocity at the Hugoniot elastic 2.2), and the setups for plate impact experiments (Section 2.3), are pre-
limit sented in this section. The initial microstructures of the experimental
𝛥𝑢fs Pullback velocity material are also presented in Section 2.2.
𝜀̇ Tensile strain rate
𝜂 Von Mises shear strain 2.1. Materials
𝜆 Hugoniot parameter
𝜆𝑖 Hugoniot parameter of the 𝑖th element The material investigated in this work is the as-cast CrCoNi MEA,
which is supplied by Beijing Ryubon New Materials Technology Co.
𝜇 Mean
Ltd. The as-cast CrCoNi MEA has a density of 𝜌0 = 8.32 g cm−3 , as
𝜈 Poisson’s ratio
measured with the Archimedes method [41]. The longitudinal (𝐶L ) and
𝜌0 Initial material density
transverse (𝐶T ) sound velocities at ambient conditions are measured
𝜎H Peak stress with the ultrasonic method [42], and are 6190 m s−1 and 3180 m s−1 ,
𝜎HEL Stress at the Hugoniot elastic limit respectively. The bulk sound velocity (𝐶B ) is then calculated to be 4980
𝜎sp Spall strength m s−1 , and the Poisson’s ratio is 𝜈 = 0.32.
𝜎y Dynamic yield stress
𝜏 Pulse duration 2.2. Microstructural characterizations
𝜔 Standard deviation
The as-cast and shock-recovered CrCoNi MEA samples are charac-
terized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), EBSD and SEM. XRD is performed
on a Panalytical Empyrean X-ray diffractometer using Cu 𝐾𝛼 radiation
than those in plate impact experiments and service conditions, while (0.15405 nm wavelength). EBSD and SEM characterizations are carried
the system/sample size is considerably smaller. Impact experimental out with an FEI Quanta 250 SEM equipped with an Oxford EBSD detec-
data on the CrCoNi MEA are desperately needed to provide constraints tor and HKL Channel 5 software operated. For EBSD, electro-polishing
for numerical simulations. is conducted in a solution of 20% perchloric acid and 80% ethanol
The deformation mechanisms of the CrCoNi MEA have been ex- at 10 V for 50 s at room temperature. For SEM, the shock-recovered
tensively investigated under quasi-static [7,32–37] and Hopkinson-bar samples are sectioned into two halves along a radial direction, and then

2
A.R. Cui et al.
Fig. 1. Initial characterizations of the as-cast CrCoNi MEA. (a) X-ray diffraction pattern,
and (b) inverse pole figure (IPF) map.
ground with sandpapers and polished with a silica polishing solution
sequentially.
The XRD pattern (Fig. 1a) shows that the CrCoNi MEA has a
single FCC crystal structure with a lattice parameter 𝑎 = 0.3569 nm.
EBSD characterization on the as-cast MEA is presented in Fig. 1b. The
equivalent diameters of the grains are calculated to be 300–500 μm. No
twins are observed in the initial material.
2.3. Plate impact experiments
The plate impact experiments are carried out with a single-stage gas
gun with a 14-mm bore diameter. The device configuration is shown
in Fig. 2a. A flyer plate (5) is attached to an aluminum alloy sabot
(3), with a recess for release waves (4). Two rubber rings (2) on the
sabot are used to avoid air leakage. When an electromagnetic valve is
activated, high pressure gas (helium or nitrogen) filled in a reservoir
is released into the gun barrel (1) to accelerate the sabot-flyer plate
assembly which impacts the sample (8) embedded in a sample holder
(7). The flyer plate velocity or impact velocity (𝑢imp ) is measured with
a magnetic-induction velocimetry system (6) with an accuracy of 0.5%
while the flyer plate exits the muzzle. The surfaces of the samples and
flyer plates are polished to mirror finish. A laser Doppler velocimetry
system (LDV, 11) is implemented to measure the free-surface velocity
(𝑢fs ) history of the sample. Optical signals are analyzed to deduce
velocity histories via fast Fourier transformation. The muzzle, sample,
LDV and related optics are set in a vacuum chamber (13), and the
impacted sample are ‘‘soft-recovered’’ with a recovery cylinder (12)
filled with soft materials for shock-recovered microstructural character-
izations. Both flyer plates and samples are made of the CrCoNi MEA.
The diameters of flyer plates and samples are 13.3 mm and 10.0 mm,
and their thicknesses are nominally 1.0 mm and 2.0 mm, respectively.
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331
3. Experimental results and discussions
The experimental results including the macroscopic mechanical
parameters and postmortem microstructural characterizations are pre-
sented in this section. The Hugoniot equation of state is derived from
a law of mixture (Section 3.1). The spall parameters of the CrCoNi are
derived from the free-surface velocity histories (Section 3.2) and com-
pared with previous results. The damage mechanisms from incipient to
full spallation are discussed based on the SEM and EBSD micrographs
(Section 3.3).
3.1. Hugoniot equation of state
The Hugoniot equation of state (EOS) establishes the relationship
between stress along the shock direction and volumetric strain [43],
and is indispensable for shock pressure calculation and numerical mod-
eling related to high-speed impact [44]. The Hugoniot EOS or 𝑢s − 𝑢p
relationship is generally linear for metals [30], i.e.,
𝑢s = 𝐶0 + 𝜆𝑢p , (1)
where 𝑢s and 𝑢p are shock wave velocity and particle velocity, respec-
tively; 𝐶0 and 𝜆 are parameters. A previous study [30] showed that
the EOS of a Al0.1 CoCrFeNi HEA can be calculated by the mixture
method which yields similar results to the experimental measurements.
The mixture method assumes that an alloy is a simple mechanical
mixture with zero porosity. For an ideal mechanical mixture consisting
∑
of different elements, 𝐶0 and 𝜆 can be obtained as 𝐶0 = 𝑚𝑖 𝐶0𝑖 and
∑
𝜆 = 𝑚𝑖 𝜆𝑖 . Here 𝑚𝑖 is mass fraction of the 𝑖th element; 𝐶0𝑖 and 𝜆𝑖 are
known Hugoniot parameters for corresponding elements [43,45]. The
𝑢s − 𝑢p relation (i.e., Hugoniot equation of state) for the CrCoNi MEA
obtained via the mixture method is 𝑢s = 4.84 + 1.38 𝑢p (km s−1 ).
3.2. Free-surface velocity analysis
The impact experiments are carried out at five different impact
velocities (227 − 685 m s−1 ), and the corresponding experimental pa-
rameters are listed in Table 1. The free-surface velocity histories,
𝑢fs (𝑡), show wave propagation and interactions ranging from incipient
spallation to full spallation (Fig. 2b).
The compression-tension process induced by plate impact is exem-
plified by the free-surface velocity profile labeled with points 𝐴 − 𝐺
in Fig. 2b. Segment 𝐴𝐵 refers to the typical elastic precursor, and
material yield occurs at the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL). The plastic
wave, 𝐵𝐶, follows the elastic precursor and evolves into a supported,
stable shock 𝐶𝐷. The duration of the supported shock is defined as the
shock pulse duration. The velocity drop (𝐷𝐹 ; release) is induced by
the arrival of the release fan from the back surface of the flyer plate,
and 𝐸 indicates the elastic–plastic transition upon release [46]. The
interaction of this rarefaction wave with that initiated from the sample
free surface induces tension in the sample interior, and thus results in
spallation as tensile stress exceeds the tensile or spall strength (𝜎sp )
of the material under a specific loading condition [47]. The velocity
turning point 𝐹 is a typical signal for spallation. The slope of 𝐹 𝐺
reflects damage evolution [48]. The yield stress (𝜎y ), peak stress (𝜎H ),
tensile strain rate (𝜀),
̇ spall strength (𝜎sp ) and re-acceleration (𝑎r ) can
be obtained with the free-surface velocity history, 𝑢fs (𝑡). The detailed
calculation process is presented in Appendix. The experimental results
are summarized in Table 1.
𝜎y of the CrCoNi MEA is calculated as 0.55 ± 0.05 GPa. The 𝜎y
values at different impact velocities are essentially identical. Compared
to the reported MEAs/HEAs and Chinese steel Q235, the dynamic yield
stress of the CrCoNi MEA is similar to those of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA
(0.54 GPa) [28] and AlCoCrFeNi2.1 HEA (0.47 GPa) [17], but consid-
erably higher than those of the Al0.1 CoCrFeNi HEA (0.38 GPa) [30],
Fe40 Mn20 Cr20 Ni20 MEA (0.37 GPa) [31], and Chinese steel Q235 (0.24
GPa) [49].
A.R. Cui et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331

Table 1
Experimental parameters and results. 𝑢imp : impact velocity; ℎf : flyer plate thickness; ℎs : sample thickness; 𝜎HEL : stress at the Hugoniot elastic
limit; 𝜏: pulse duration; 𝛥𝑢fs : pullback velocity; 𝜎sp : spall strength; 𝜎H : peak stress; 𝜀:
̇ tensile strain rate; 𝑎r : re-acceleration.
Shot no. 𝑢imp ℎf ℎs 𝜎HEL 𝜏 𝛥𝑢fs 𝜎sp 𝜎H 𝜀̇ 𝑎r
(m s−1 ) (mm) (mm) (GPa) (μs) (m s−1 ) (GPa) (GPa) (105 s−1 ) (108 m s−2 )
1 227 1.000 2.006 0.98 0.23 166.5 3.82 4.88 0.91 2.23
2 308 1.006 2.008 1.06 0.22 169.8 3.90 6.64 1.03 5.36
3 403 1.005 2.007 1.01 0.20 173.2 3.97 8.74 1.35 6.80
4 500 1.007 2.003 1.02 0.20 180.8 4.15 10.94 1.67 8.18
5 685 1.006 2.007 1.13 0.17 185.9 4.27 15.29 1.97 9.12

Fig. 2. Experimental setups and results for the shock and spall experiments. (a) Schematic setup for plate impact tests. 1: gun barrel; 2: rubber ring; 3: aluminum alloy sabot;
4: recess for release waves; 5: flyer plate; 6: magnetic-induction velocimetry system; 7: sample holder; 8: sample with a momentum trap ring; 9: thin-film mirror; 10: lens; 11:
optical fiber connected to the laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) probe; 12: sample recovery cylinder; 13: vacuum chamber. (b) Free-surface velocity histories of the CrCoNi MEA
impacted at different velocities as noted (in m s−1 ). (c) and (d) Spall strength (c) and re-acceleration (d) as a function of peak stress for the CrCoNi MEA.

The spall strength of CrCoNi MEA is displayed in Fig. 2c as a func-
tion of peak stress. Three repetitive spall experiments are conducted
at the same peak stress levels (4.88 GPa and 8.74 GPa, respectively),
and the corresponding spall strengths are similar, indicating that the
samples are statistically representative for spall properties. The spall
strength increases monotonically at a modest rate with increasing
peak stress. For comparison, the spall strengths of some other types
of HEAs/MEAs (e.g., Fe50 Mn30 Co10 Cr10 [13], FeCrMnNi [29], CrM-
nFeCoNi [26–28], Al0.1 CoCrFeNi [30], Fe40 Mn20 Cr20 Ni20 [31] and
AlCoCrFeNi2.1 [17]), along with those of Ni, a Ni-based alloy (Ni-60Co
alloy [50]) and Chinese steel Q235 [49] are also plotted in Fig. 2c.
The CrCoNi MEA exhibits the highest spall strength among all the
materials presented (the shadow region in Fig. 2c). In addition, the 𝑎r
values of the CrCoNi MEA are compared with those of the HEAs/MEAs
and Chinese steel Q235, as shown in Fig. 2d. 𝑎r for the CrCoNi MEA
increases with increasing peak stress (the shaded area in Fig. 2d).
At a given peak stress, the 𝑎r value for the CrCoNi MEA is similar
to those of the CrMnFeCoNi HEA [26,27], AlCoCrFeNi2.1 HEA [17],
Fe50 Mn30 Co10 Cr10 HEA [13] and Fe40 Mn20 Cr20 Ni20 MEA [31], but
lower than those of the Al0.1 CoCrFeNi HEA [30] and Chinese steel
Q235 [49], indicting that CrCoNi is more ductile (within the context
of spall damage) than Al0.1 CoCrFeNi and Chinese steel Q235.
3.3. Microstructural characterizations
To discuss the spall damage mechanisms of the CrCoNi MEA, the
shock-recovered samples at different impact velocities are character-
ized with SEM and EBSD, as shown in Figs. 3–8.
SEM characterization is conducted on three representative shock-
recovered samples at 𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 , 308 m s−1 and 403 m s−1
(Fig. 3a–c). The microvoids are sparsely distributed in the center plane
of the sample (along the 𝑥 direction) at 𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 , typical of
incipient spallation. The void diameter is around 5 μm. With increasing

4
A.R. Cui et al.
Fig. 3. SEM characterizations of damage in the spallation regions. (a)–(c) SEM micrographs of recovered CrCoNi MEA at representative impact velocities as noted. Impact direction:
the 𝑦-axis. (d) Degree of damage quantified from SEM micrographs as a function of distance away from the impact surface. (e) Elongation index as a function of equivalent diameter
for voids.
impact velocity, the number and size of microvoids increase signifi-
cantly. At 𝑢imp = 403 m s−1 , the microvoids start to coalesce along
the 𝑥 direction perpendicular to the impact direction (the 𝑦-axis). The
average diameter increases to ∼12 μm. Furthermore, the jointed voids
become elongated rather than quasi-circular.
Image processing like threshold and top-hat segmentation is ap-
plied to extract the (circular or elongated) voids [51,52]. We define
the degree of damage as the ratio of the damage area to the whole
area under consideration [53]. Fig. 3d presents the degree of damage
distributions along the impact direction for the three impact velocities.
The degree of damage increases significantly with increasing impact
velocity. The damage peak is located roughly in the middle of the
sample along the impact direction. In addition, some small peaks
(secondary spall planes) also appear near the main peak (the main spall
plane Fig. 3 d), as a result of multiple spallations. In particular, two
large or main peaks are observed for 𝑢imp = 403 m s−1 , with peaks
of 0.30 and 0.25, corresponding to distances from the impact surface
of around 800 μm and 1200 μm, respectively. Multiple spall planes are
frequently observed under sufficiently high impact velocities as a result
of high tensile stress and deformation rate [54,55], and a relatively
wide loading pulse [56,57]. Spall damage occurs at more locations and
grows at higher rates to accommodate the high rate of external loading
compared to the case under relatively lower impact velocities.
To quantify the morphology of voids at different impact velocities,
the size and elongation index of the voids are calculated based on the
image processing. The size of a void is quantified as its equivalent
diameter, while the elongation index stands for the ratio of the short
axis to the long axis of the characteristic ellipse of the void [58]. The
elongation index is 1.0 for a circular void, and close to 0 for a needle-
shaped one. The elongation indices of voids are plotted as a function
of their equivalent diameters at different impact velocities in Fig. 3e.
The distribution of elongation index of small voids (e.g., <10 μm)
are approximately consistent for different impact velocities, indicating
similar nucleation dynamics [58]. However, for voids larger than 10 μm,
the elongation index decreases with increasing void size (marked by
the shadow in Fig. 3e), indicating that ‘‘spherical’’ voids grow and
then coalesce to form elongated voids or microcracks. In addition, the
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331
number of the large, elongated voids increases with increasing impact
velocity, due to enhanced void coalescence at high impact velocities.
EBSD characterizations are further conducted on the shock-
recovered samples for different impact velocities (𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 ,
308 m s−1 and 403 m s−1 ) to reveal the spall damage mechanisms
of coarse-grained CrCoNi MEA. Fig. 4 shows the inverse pole figure
(IPF) map and corresponding kernel average misorientation (KAM)
maps of two representative regions around the spall plane for 𝑢imp
= 227 m s−1 . Fig. 4a demonstrates that voids appear both at grain
boundaries and within grain interiors. However, the voids at grain
boundaries are considerably larger in size than those within the grain
interior. Moreover, the former voids further develop into intergranular
crack along grain boundaries, as marked by the arrows in Fig. 4a and
c. Therefore, void nucleation occurs earlier and/or void growth and
coalescence occurs faster at grain boundaries, compared to those within
the grain interior. Intergranular crack dominates spall damage and
fracture at low impact velocities. The KAM maps (Fig. 4b and d) show
high KAM values in the damaged area at grain boundaries, indicating
localized plastic deformation at grain boundaries (Fig. 4b) due to pile
up of dislocations [59].
For 𝑢imp = 308 m s−1 , considerable damage is observed in grain inte-
riors. Slender cracks form in grains through void coalescence (marked
by the white arrows in Fig. 5a and c). Intragranular crack dominates
spall damage and fracture, different from the intergranular cracking
at lower impact velocities. Interestingly, these cracks are oriented ap-
proximately along the horizontal direction (perpendicular to the impact
direction) in the grain interior (marked by the long arrow in Fig. 5a),
but deviate away from the horizontal direction upon reaching the grain
boundaries. In Fig. 5a, the intragranular crack seems to be blocked
by the strong grain boundaries (marked by the dashed ellipses in
Fig. 5a) [60,61] and bends into the grain interior (marked by the short
arrows in Fig. 5a). Similarly in Fig. 5c, the main crack propagates firstly
along the horizontal direction in the grain interior, but then along
the grain boundaries when it arrives there. The intragranular cracks
turn into intergranular cracks due to blockage by the grain boundaries.
Therefore, a mixed mode of intragranular and intergranular cracking
is characteristic for 𝑢imp = 308 m s−1 . In addition, microvoids or
microcracks are scattered across the sample around the main crack.
A.R. Cui et al.
Fig. 4. EBSD characterizations of two representative spallation regions for 𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 . (a, c) IPF maps and (b, d) corresponding kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps.
Impact direction: the 𝑦-axis.
Table 2
Lognormal fitting parameters (Eq. (2)) to the local misorientation angle distributions
Fig. 7. 𝑢imp : impact velocity; 𝜇 and 𝜔: mean and standard deviation of the natural
logarithm of local misorientation angles, respectively; 𝑅2 : coefficient of determination.
𝑢imp (m s−1 ) 𝜇 𝜔
227 −1.053 0.478
308 −0.719 0.470
403 −0.489 0.438
The corresponding KAM maps (Fig. 5b and d) indicate high KAM values
or severe plastic deformation around the voids and cracks. The plastic
deformation is more uniformly distributed compared to the case of 𝑢imp
= 227 m s−1 .
As the impact velocity increases to 403 m s−1 , the damage degree
increases significantly. Intergranular and intragranular cracks are both
observed across the sample (Fig. 6a and c), similar to the case of 𝑢imp =
308 m s−1 . Nevertheless, intragranular cracks in adjacent grains appear
to connect along curved and serrated paths (marked by the dashed
curves in Fig. 6a and c). Intragranular cracks propagate across grain
boundaries (via void coalescence) approximately perpendicular to the
impact direction (the 𝑦-axis, Fig. 6). Branching occurs in the damage
propagation paths as a result of coalescence of voids distributed on
different spall planes [54,55,62]. Intergranular cracks are also observed
at grain boundaries but are shorter than those for 𝑢imp = 308 m s−1 .
High KAM-value regions appear around the voids and cracks (Fig. 6b
and d), and are more uniformly distributed compared to those in the
low impact velocity cases. Therefore, the damage mode exhibits a
gradual transition from intergranular damage (𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 ), to
mixed intergranular and intragranular damage (𝑢imp = 308 m s−1 ), and
to intragranular damage (𝑢imp = 403 m s−1 ), as a result of increasing
deformation rate. Evolution of the damage modes is consistent with the
increase in the spall strength and re-acceleration with the peak stress
(Fig. 2c and d).
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331
The coarse-grained structure, i.e., with fewer interfacial weak zones,
allows for void nucleation and growth at grain boundaries as well
as in grain interiors (Fig. 6). In addition, lattice distortion induced
𝑅2
by chemical short-range order (widely reported in MEAs [63,64] and
HEAs [65,66]) can lower dislocation mobility and thus contribute to
0.956
0.913
intragranular void nucleation and growth as well (Figs. 5 and 6).
0.737 Considerable intragranular void nucleation was also reported in the
Al0.1 CoCrFeNi HEA [30] with finer grains (∼200 μm) but similar high
spall strength to the CrCoNi MEA (Fig. 2c). Therefore, pronounced
intragranular void nucleation followed by ductile void growth and
coalescence contributes to the higher spall strength than the other types
of HEAs/MEAs.
Considerable plastic deformation is observed around the voids/
cracks for all the three impact velocities. The local misorientation distri-
butions are quantified in Fig. 7 from the KAM graphs (Figs. 4d, 5b and
6b). For 𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 , the local misorientations are concentrated
between 0◦ and 1◦ , while the distribution curves for 𝑢imp = 308 m s−1
and 𝑢imp = 403 m s−1 exhibit a long decay tail at high local angles.
The means and widths of the distributions increase significantly with
increasing impact velocity, indicating increasing plastic deformation in
both amplitude and area. In addition, the local misorientation distribu-
tions can be described by a lognormal distribution (the dashed curves),
[ ]
1 (ln 𝑥 − 𝜇)2
𝑝(𝑥) = √ exp − , (2)
2𝜋𝜔𝑥 2𝜔2
where 𝑝 and 𝑥 are probability density and local misorientation, respec-
tively; 𝜇 and 𝜔 are, respectively, the mean and standard deviation of
the natural logarithm of local misorientations. The lognormal fitting to
the experimental data is shown in Fig. 7 as well, and the parameters
and the coefficients of determination (𝑅2 ) are summarized in Table 2.
The local misorientation distributions can be well described with the
lognormal distribution at 𝑢imp = 227 m s−1 and 308 m s−1 , but the
deviation is considerable (low 𝑅2 ) for 𝑢imp = 403 m s−1 .
6
A.R. Cui et al.
Fig. 5. EBSD characterizations of two representative spallation regions for 𝑢imp = 308 m s−1 . (a, c) IPF maps and (b, d) corresponding KAM maps. Impact direction: the 𝑦-axis.
As the impact velocity increases to 500 m s−1 , the sample is split
into two pieces in the center plane (along the 𝑦-axis), and the spall
fracture planes are characterized by SEM. The SEM fractographs of
the recovered sample for 𝑢imp = 500 m s−1 are shown in Fig. 8,
indicating a typical ductile fracture feature. A large number of ductile
dimples with a diameter of 15–25 μm are observed (Fig. 8a) on the
fracture plane, similar to the fracture mode of the CrCoNi MEA under
quasi-static tension [67]. There are numerous dimples in the grain
interior, as a result of rapid, ‘‘homogeneous’’ nucleation of voids. A
high-magnification fractograph (Fig. 8b) of the zone marked by the
dashed rectangle in Fig. 8a shows many small dimples (∼2 μm in
diameter, marked by the dashed rectangles in Fig. 8b) between large
dimples. Such small dimples are probably resulted from small voids
which lack sufficient time to grow and coalesce, characteristic of high
strain-rate loading. In addition, the dimple size is considerably smaller
than the grain size, indicating intragranular cracking as noted in EBSD
characterizations (Figs. 5 and 6).
7
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331
4. MD simulations
To help interpret the experimental observations and understand the
atomic-scale deformation and damage mechanisms, MD simulations
are conducted on the shock and spall of the multigrained CrCoNi
MEA. The main steps of the MD modeling is presented in Section 4.1.
The deformation mechanisms (dislocation slip, twinning and stacking
fault) and damage mechanisms (void nucleation and growth) during
spallation are discussed in Sections 4.2 and 4.3, respectively.
4.1. MD model
The main steps of MD simulations are shown in Fig. 9a. Firstly,
an FCC Fe crystalline structure is generated, and then Fe atoms are
replaced randomly with Cr, Co or Ni atoms to build a CrCoNi MEA
with an equiatomic composition. The embedded-atom-method (EAM)
potential is used to describe the atomic interactions [68,69]. The EAM
A.R. Cui et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331

Fig. 6. EBSD characterizations of two representative spallation regions for 𝑢imp = 403 m s−1 . (a, b) IPF maps and (c, d) corresponding KAM maps. Impact direction: the 𝑦-axis.

Fig. 7. Local misorientation distributions of recovered samples for different impact

velocities as noted. Symbols: experimental data; dashed curves: lognormal fitting.

potential has been successfully applied to the CrCoNi MEA in several

recent MD studies [15,16,68]. The initial multigrained CrCoNi MEA
system has dimensions of 180 nm × 36 nm × 36 nm, corresponding to
∼2.14 × 107 atoms. The average grain size of the multigrained CrCoNi
MEA is about 20 nm. Secondly, the CrCoNi configuration is equilibrated
at 300 K and zero pressure for 60 ps under three-dimensional periodic
boundary conditions. Thirdly, shock and spall simulation is conducted Fig. 8. Fracture morphology analysis of the spall plane. (a) SEM fractograph of the
CrCoNi MEA for 𝑢imp = 500 m s−1 . (b) Magnified view of the region indicated by the
on the multigrained CrCoNi MEA system. A symmetric impact geometry
dashed rectangle in (a). Impact direction: the 𝑦-axis.
is adopted, and the flyer plate and the sample are 60 nm and 120 nm
thick, respectively. The left 60 nm thick part of the atomic configura-
tion is treated as the flyer plate with an initial particle velocity of 2𝑢p ,
where 𝑢p refers to the final shock-state particle velocity. Finally, the The snapshots of samples for two representative shots, 𝑢p = 0.8 and
simulation data are analyzed and visualized with post-processing tools. 1.0 km s−1 , are presented for comparison. Incipient spall occurs in the

8
A.R. Cui et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331

Fig. 9. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on the shock and spall of the CoCrNi MEA. (a) Schematic diagram of the steps involved in molecular dynamics simulation. (b–c)
Snapshots of atomic configurations of the CoCrNi MEA for 𝑢p = 0.8 and 1.0 km s−1 , respectively. Atoms are color-coded based on the common neighbor analysis. Green: FCC
(Face-centered-cubic); red: HCP (Hexagonal- close-packed); gray: other types. Impact direction: along the 𝑥-axis.

Fig. 10. Snapshots of atomic configurations of grain 6 for 𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 showing dislocation slip. (a) Common neighbor analysis. Green: FCC, red: HCP; gray: other types; L:
leading partial dislocation; T: trailing partial dislocation. (b) Corresponding inverse pole figure maps.

CrCoNi MEA at 𝑢p = 0.8 km s−1 . Upon loading, shock waves propa-
gate across the sample and induce compressive and tensile stresses in
the sample. Plastic deformation is accommodated via dislocation slip,
stacking faults and deformation twinning, followed by spall damage via
void nucleation and growth. The atoms with different local structures
are distinguished with the common neighbor analysis method [70,71]
(Figs. 9–12).
4.2. Deformation mechanisms
Full dislocation slip is both observed in the multigrained CrCoNi
MEA shock-compressed at 𝑢p = 0.8 and 1.0 km s−1 . Only the results for
𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 are presented for brevity. Fig. 10 shows the snapshots
of dislocation-mediated plastic deformation in a representative grain
(grain 6 of Fig. 9c), viewed along the {111} slip plane normal. The
leading and trailing partial dislocations nucleate and propagate through
the grain (Fig. 10a). The Burgers vectors of the leading and trailing
partial dislocations are 16 [211]
̄ and 61 [1̄ 12],
̄ respectively. As the trailing
partial sweeps through the grain (at 36 ps), a full dislocation forms
and its Burgers vector is 16 [211]
̄ + 16 [1̄ 12]
̄ = 12 [101].
̄ Fig. 10b shows
the corresponding three-dimensional orientation maps of grain 6 at
different instants; the regions traversed by the leading and trailing
partial dislocations undergo orientations changes as [110] → [100] →
[110] (marked by the white rectangles in Fig. 10b). The stacking fault
energy of the CrCoNi MEA (∼18 ± 4 mJ m−2 ) is lower than the
other types of HEAs/MEAs containing similar or more elements [72].
Apart from dislocations, a large number of stacking faults appear in
the grains, in the form of double layer HCP atoms (marked by black
rectangles in Fig. 11a). Stacking faults act as an important mecha-
nism of plastic deformation for HEAs/MEAs, as previously reported in
Al0.1 CoCrFeNi [30] and Fe40 Mn20 Cr20 Ni20 [31].
Apart from dislocation slip, deformation twinning of the {111}⟨112⟩
type is detected in the CrCoNi MEA upon shock compression, due to

9
A.R. Cui et al.
Fig. 11. Snapshots of atomic configurations of grain 16 for 𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 showing
deformation twinning. (a) Common neighbor analysis. Green: FCC; red: HCP; gray:
other types. (b) Corresponding inverse pole figure maps.
the low stacking fault energy of the CrCoNi MEA [34,38]. Grain 16 is
extracted as an example (Fig. 9c) to illustrate the twinning evolution
̄ plane, both indicating ductile spallation.
at 𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 , viewed along [110] (Fig. 11a). The successive
layer-by-layer sliding via the 16 [112] partial dislocations on the {111}
planes leads to the formation of the {111}⟨112⟩ twins, which was also
experimentally reported in the Al0.1 CoCrFeNi [30], AlCoCrFeNi2.1 [17]
and CrMnFeCoNi [26,28]. In Fig. 11b, the orientation maps show that
the orientation of the twinning region (between the two dotted lines)
changes from ⟨652⟩ (cyan) to ⟨100⟩ (red). Overall, few deformation
twins are observed across the sample at both 𝑢p = 0.8 and 1.0 km s−1 .
Dislocation slip and stacking faults dominate the plastic deformation of
the CrCoNi MEA under shock compression and spallation.
4.3. Damage mechanisms
To discuss the void nucleation and growth in the CrCoNi MEA,
slices of samples (marked by the rhomboids in Fig. 9b and c) mapped
with the von Mises shear strain (𝜂) fields at different instants are
presented in Fig. 12 for 𝑢p = 0.8 and 1.0 km s−1 . For 𝑢p = 0.8 km
s−1 , shear strains are primarily concentrated on the grain boundaries
and induces void nucleation there with increasing loading (Fig. 12a).
Voids tend to nucleate first at the triple junctions of grain boundaries
(indicated by the squares in Fig. 12a), and then grow independently
as loading precedes. However, for 𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 , voids nucleate
at grain boundaries first, and then in the grain interior (marked by
the red circles in Fig. 12b) preceded with considerable shear strain
concentrations.
Grain boundaries are generally the weak or preferred sites for
void nucleation. However, under sufficiently high tensile stress and
high strain rate (e.g., 𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 ), grain interiors can become
damaged ‘‘independently’’ from the grain boundaries for coarse-grained
metals, i.e., ‘‘homogeneous’’ void nucleation still occurs in the presence
of the preferred heterogeneous nucleation at grain boundaries [73].
Intragranular voids are resulted from dislocation slip-slip interactions,
as manifested in the simulated shear strain fields (Fig. 12). Shear strain
maps demonstrate several groups of parallel lines or dislocation lines
(with different orientations) in the grains, as a result of dislocation
slip. Dislocation lines in different groups intersect in the grain interior
(marked by the arrows at 32 ps, Fig. 12b). Such dislocation interactions
give rise to dislocation pile-ups at the intersection regions, shear strain
10
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331
localizations, and finally void nucleation in the grain interiors. Con-
sistently in the experiments, the intergranular damage prevails at low
impact velocities while intragranular damage becomes more and more
pronounced with increasing impact velocity, as illustrated in the EBSD
characterizations (Figs. 4–6). However, the intragranular damage in the
MD simulations is not as pronounced as in the experiments, probably
due to the nano-grained structure.
5. Conclusions
Plate-impact spall experiments are conducted on an as-cast, coarse-
grained, medium-entropy alloy CrCoNi with the free-surface velocity
measurements and postmortem SEM and EBSD characterizations. MD
simulations are also conducted to obtain atomistic information on
the dynamic deformation and damage to help interpret experimen-
tal observations. The CrCoNi MEA exhibits the highest spall strength
(3.82–4.27 GPa) among the HEAs/MEAs ever reported, with similar
or better dynamic ductility (in terms of re-acceleration) compared to
the reported HEAs/MEAs. The spall strength and re-acceleration both
increase with increasing impact velocity.
The degree of damage increases considerably with increasing impact
velocity, and multiple spall planes appear at high impact velocity. The
dominant damage mode of CrCoNi undergoes a gradual transition from
intergranular damage to mixed intergranular and intragranular dam-
age, and then to intragranular damage, with increasing impact velocity.
Considerable plastic deformation occurs around damaged areas at all
impact velocities, and numerous dimples form on the spall fracture
MD simulations reveal that dislocation slip and stacking faults are
the primary plastic deformation mechanism in the CrCoNi MEA, and
deformation twinning is secondary. As for spall damage, intergranular
damage prevails at low impact velocities, while intragranular damage
occurs at high impact velocities, consistent with the EBSD charac-
terizations in the experiments. Combined with the experimental and
simulation results, the coarse-grained structure and chemical short-
range order of the CrCoNi MEA enhance intragranular void nucleation,
while multiple plastic deformation mechanisms lead to ductile void
growth and coalescence, which collectively contribute to the high spall
strength and good ductility of the CrCoNi MEA.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
A.R. Cui: Conceptualization, Investigation, Data curation, Writ-
ing – original draft. S.C. Hu: Methodology, Visualization. S. Zhang:
Methodology. J.C. Cheng: Writing – original draft, Investigation. Q.
Li: Supervision. J.Y. Huang: Conceptualization, Validation, Supervi-
sion, Writing – review & editing. S.N. Luo: Validation, Supervision,
Resources, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work was sponsored in part by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12172312, 12102491 and 11627901)
and the Tianshan Innovation Team Program of Xinjiang Uygur Au-
tonomous Region (Grand No. 2020D14038).
A.R. Cui et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 252 (2023) 108331

Fig. 12. Von Mises shear strain (𝜂) maps of the atomic configurations at selected instants for (a) 𝑢p = 0.8 km s−1 and (b) 𝑢p = 1.0 km s−1 . The mapping areas are indicated in
Fig. 9 with the parallelograms.

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