Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

In this work, the formation of carbide with the concertation of carbon at 0.1 at.% in refractory high-entropy alloy (RHEA) Mo₁₅Nb₂₀Re₁₅Ta₃₀W₂₀ was studied under both ambient and high-pressure high-temperature conditions. The x-ray diffraction of dilute carbon (C)-doped RHEA under ambient pressure showed that the phases and lattice constant of RHEA were not influenced by the addition of 0.1 at.% C. In contrast, C-doped RHEA showed unexpected phase formation and transformation under combined high-pressure and high-temperature conditions by resistively employing the heated diamond anvil cell (DAC) technique. The new FCC_L1₂ phase appeared at 6 GPa and 809 °C and preserved the ambient temperature and pressure. High-pressure and high-temperature promoted the formation of carbides Ta₃C and Nb₃C, which are stable and may further improve the mechanical performance of the dilute C-doped alloy Mo₁₅Nb₂₀Re₁₅Ta₃₀W₂₀.