Study on irradiation effects of refractory bcc high-entropy alloy

Abstract

• Refractory HEAs exhibit high thermal stabilities after heat-treatment. • The irradiation hardening of MoNbTaTiW is smaller than that of MoNbTaTi. • Refractory HEAs have higher irradiation resistance than pure tungsten. We developed body-centered cubic refractory high-entropy alloys, MoNbTaTi, MoNbTaW, and MoNbTaTiW, and explored their microstructure, and mechanical properties in order to develop a new high-irradiation resistance material suitable for fusion reactor components. Three HEAs were annealed at 1200 °C for 48 h to form single face BCC alloys, while MoNbTaW was also annealed at 1500 °C. SEM inspection and EDS mapping have both validated this result. The Vickers hardness of three HEAs was investigated, and the stable results indicate that they are all stable at elevated temperatures. Three HEAs are ion irradiated with 6.4 MeV Fe 3+ at a temperature of 500 °C, and the irradiation hardening is examined using nanoindentation. In comparison to pure tungsten, the three HEAs exhibit increased resistance to irradiation.