Thermal and corrosion properties of V-Nb-Mo-Ta-W and V-Nb-Mo-Ta-W-Cr-B high entropy alloy coatings

High entropy alloys (HEAs) have drawn lots of attentions from researchers and industries because of their outstanding properties, such as high hardness, and good corrosion resistance. Particularly, the refractory high entropy alloy is characterized by its high temperature strength and stable thermal properties. We conducted the magnetron co-sputtering process to grow one V-Nb-Mo-Ta-W and three V-Nb-Mo-Ta-W-Cr-B refractory HEA coatings. The BCC phase of V-Nb-Mo-Ta-W HEA coating was changed into the amorphous-like structures when Cr and B elements were added into the coatings. Oxidation reactions occurred and very complex refractory metal oxides were produced on all HEA coatings when the oxidation was held at 800 °C in air for 1 h. The addition of Cr and B constituents into the V-Nb-Mo-Ta-W coating can provide good oxidation resistance and anti-corrosion performance. The highest hardness of 18.4 ± 0.5 GPa, an excellent corrosion resistance at room temperature, a high hardness of 15.9 ± 1.1 GPa and good thermal stability after 500 °C oxidation test were obtained for the V10.4Nb10.5Mo10.5Ta11.2W10.5Cr16.3B28.6 refractory HEA coating in this study.