The impact of variations in the content of single alloying element on the properties of alloy materials has been extensively discussed, but the influence of this change on the content of multiple alloying elements in the alloy materials has been disregarded, as the performances of alloy materials should be determined by the collective influence of multiple alloying elements. To address the aforementioned issue, the present study conducted a comprehensive investigation into the impact of variations in the content of alloying elements, namely Ni, Cr, and Co, on the structural and mechanical properties of L1₂-(Ni_x1Cr_x2Co_x3)₃Al precipitates using the high-throughput first-principles calculations and the partial least squares (PLS) regression, and the competitive mechanism among these three elements was elucidated. The findings demonstrate that the same alloying element may exhibit opposite effects in both single element analysis and comprehensive multi-element analysis, for example, the effect of Ni element on elastic constant C₁₁, and the influence of Cr element on Vickers hardness and yield strength. The reason for this is that the impact of the content of other two alloying elements is ignored in the single element analysis. Meanwhile, the Co element demonstrates a significant competitive advantage in the comparative analysis of three alloying elements for different physical properties. Therefore, the methodology proposed in this study will facilitate the elucidation of competition mechanisms among different alloy elements and offer a more robust guidance for experimental preparation.

Altering the content of an alloying element in alloy materials will inevitably affect the content of other elements, while the effect is frequently disregarded, leading to subsequent negligence of the common influence on the physical properties of alloys. Therefore, the correlation between alloying elements and physical properties has not been adequately addressed in the existing studies. In response to this problem, the present study focuses on the Al₁₀Ti₁₅Ni_x1Cr_x2Co_x3 alloys and investigates the competitive interplay among Ni, Cr, and Co elements in the formation of physical properties through a single-element (SE) analysis and a multi-element (ME) analysis based on the first principles calculations and the partial least squares (PLS) regression. The values of C₁₁ and C₄₄ generally increase with the incorporation of Ni or Cr content in light of SE analysis, which is contrary to the inclination of ME analysis in predicting the impact of Ni and Cr elements, and the Ni element demonstrates a pronounced negative competitive ability. The overall competitive relationship among the three alloying elements suggests that increasing the content of Ni and Cr does not contribute to enhancing the elastic constants of alloys, and the phenomenon is also observed in the analysis of elastic moduli. The reason is that the SE analysis fails to account for the aforementioned common influence of multiple alloying elements on the physical properties of alloys. Therefore, the integration of SE analysis and ME analysis is more advantageous in elucidating the hidden competitive mechanism among multiple alloying elements, and offering a more robust theoretical framework for the design of alloy materials.

Previous studies on the physical properties of alloy materials often focus solely on analyzing the impact of individual alloying element content, overlooking the underlying mechanism behind the synergistic action of multiple alloying elements. Therefore, in this study, we propose a combination of high-throughput computation and numerical analysis to conduct single-element (SE) analysis and multi-element (ME) analysis on the internal relationships between alloying element content and physical properties for the multi-component Ni_x1Cr_x2Co_x3Al₁₅Ti₁₀ alloys, aiming to elucidate the competition mechanism among the Ni, Cr, and Co elements. The analysis of SE reveals how the physical properties of alloys are affected by the content of each individual alloying element, and the ME analysis further unveils the underlying competitive relationships among multiple alloying elements. The order of competitive intensity for the formation of lattice constant is Cr > Co > Ni, whereas for the formation of elastic constants and elastic moduli it is Ni > Co > Cr. At the same time, there are contradictory conclusions, such as the SE analysis showing that the Ni content is positively correlated with elastic constant $C_{11}$, while the ME analysis demonstrates that the Ni element produces a negative competitive direction. This outcome arises from the omission of considering the combined impacts of various alloying elements in SE analysis. Therefore, the ME analysis can compensate for the limitations of SE analysis, and the integration of these two analytical methods is more conducive to elucidating the competition mechanism among various alloying elements in shaping the physical properties of alloys, which provides a promising avenue for theoretical research.

The journal Coatings retracts the article titled “Competitive Mechanism of Alloying Elements on the Physical Properties of Al₁₀Ti₁₅Ni_x1Cr_x2Co_x3 Alloys through Single-Element and Multi-Element Analysis Methods”

The journal Coatings retracts the article titled “Study on the Alloying Elements Competition Mechanism of Ni_x1Cr_x2Co_x3Al₁₅Ti₁₀ Alloys Based on High-Throughput Computation and Numerical Analysis”