FeCoNi‐based medium‐entropy alloys (MEAs) have attracted lots of attention owing to their potential for achieving excellent mechanical and soft magnetic properties. Herein, an anomalous low‐temperature annealing‐induced hardening behavior in a prototyping equiatomic FeCoNi MEA subjected to severe cold‐rolling deformation is reported. The hardening upon annealing at 300–500 °C is confirmed by both microhardness measurements and tensile tests. Microstructural characterization via transmission Kikuchi diffraction suggests that hardening is correlated with the annealing‐modified nanosubgrained structure. More specifically, the distribution heterogeneities of shear bands and nanosubgrains are reduced upon annealing, which can relieve the strain localization during plastic yielding. Nanoindentation maps further verify that the rearrangement of nanosubgrains upon annealing relieves the severe heterogeneity of nanohardness distribution, ensuring higher macroscopic strength and hardness. Herein, the novel annealing‐induced hardening phenomenon in FeCoNi MEA is rationalized, which can serve as a guideline for optimizing the thermomechanical treatment strategies of this alloy family to obtain enhanced mechanical properties.

Penghua Ge

Kefu Gan

Dingshun Yan

Pengfei Wu

Weisong Wu

Zhiming Li

Advanced Engineering Materials

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 是三个主要欧洲材料协会的会员期刊——德国材料协会/DGM、-法国材料协会/SF2M、-瑞士材料联合会/SVMT。

Advanced Engineering Materials is a journal published in collaboration with three major European materials associations: the German Materials Society (DGM), the French Materials Society (SF2M), and the Swiss Materials Association (SVMT).

《Advanced Engineering Materials》是由三个主要的欧洲材料协会共同出版的期刊，包括德国材料协会（DGM）、法国材料协会（SF2M）和瑞士材料联合会（SVMT）。

Category	Quartile
材料科学	3
材料科学, 材料科学综合	4

Elucidating the Origination of Annealing‐Induced Hardening in an Equiatomic Medium‐Entropy Alloy

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