Ultrafine-grained refractory high-entropy alloy with oxygen control and high mechanical performance

Grain boundary engineering plays a significant role in the improvement of strength and plasticity of alloys. However, in refractory high-entropy alloys, the susceptibility of grain boundaries to oxygen presents a bottleneck in achieving high mechanical performance. Creating a large number of clean grain boundaries in refractory high-entropy alloys is a challenge. In this study, an ultrafine-grained (UFG) NbMoTaW alloy with high grain-boundary cohesion was prepared by powder metallurgy, taking advantages of rapid hot-pressing sintering and full-process inert atmosphere protection from powder synthesis to sintering. By oxygen control and an increase in the proportion of grain boundaries, the segregation of oxygen and formation of oxides at grain boundaries were strongly mitigated, thus the intrinsic high cohesion of the interfaces was preserved. Compared to the coarse-grained alloys prepared by arc-melting and those sintered by traditional powder metallurgy methods, the UFG NbMoTaW alloy demonstrated simultaneously increased strength and plasticity at ambient temperature. The highly cohesive grain boundaries not only reduce brittle fractures effectively but also promote intragranular deformation. Consequently, the UFG NbMoTaW alloy achieved a high yield strength even at elevated temperatures, with a remarkable performance of 1117 MPa at 1200 °C. This work provides a feasible solution for producing refractory high-entropy alloys with low impurity content, refined microstructure, and excellent mechanical performance.