Ultra-strong tungsten refractory high-entropy alloy via stepwise controllable coherent nanoprecipitations

Tong Li; Tianwei Liu; Shiteng Zhao; Yan Chen; Junhua Luan; Zengbao Jiao; Robert O Ritchie; Lanhong Dai

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38531-4

Ultra-strong tungsten refractory high-entropy alloy via stepwise controllable coherent nanoprecipitations

Nat Commun. 2023 May 25;14(1):3006. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38531-4.

Authors

Tong Li^{1

2}, Tianwei Liu^{1

2}, Shiteng Zhao³, Yan Chen^{1

2}, Junhua Luan⁴, Zengbao Jiao⁵, Robert O Ritchie^{6

7}, Lanhong Dai^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
² School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
⁶ Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. roritchie@lbl.gov.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. roritchie@lbl.gov.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China. lhdai@lnm.imech.ac.cn.
⁹ School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China. lhdai@lnm.imech.ac.cn.

Abstract

High-performance refractory alloys with ultrahigh strength and ductility are in demand for a wide range of critical applications, such as plasma-facing components. However, it remains challenging to increase the strength of these alloys without seriously compromising their tensile ductility. Here, we put forward a strategy to "defeat" this trade-off in tungsten refractory high-entropy alloys by stepwise controllable coherent nanoprecipitations (SCCPs). The coherent interfaces of SCCPs facilitate the dislocation transmission and relieve the stress concentrations that can lead to premature crack initiation. As a consequence, our alloy displays an ultrahigh strength of 2.15 GPa with a tensile ductility of 15% at ambient temperature, with a high yield strength of 1.05 GPa at 800 °C. The SCCPs design concept may afford a means to develop a wide range of ultrahigh-strength metallic materials by providing a pathway for alloy design.