About this Abstract | 
  
   
    | Meeting | 
    MS&T23: Materials Science & Technology
       | 
  
   
    | Symposium 
       | 
    Ceramics for New Generation Nuclear Energy System Application
       | 
  
   
    | Presentation Title | 
    Processing of High Entropy Metal Carbides: A New Class of Ultrahigh Temperature, Irradiation Resistant Ceramics | 
  
   
    | Author(s) | 
    Olivia A. Graeve, Ved  Vakharia | 
  
   
    | On-Site Speaker (Planned) | 
    Olivia A. Graeve | 
  
   
    | Abstract Scope | 
    
High entropy carbides (HECs) are novel ultra-high temperature ceramics of extraordinary melting temperatures (~3500 K) and mechanical performance, exhibiting hardness values over 27 GPa. They are promising for aerospace applications and potentially for use as plasma-facing materials. We implemented a solvothermal process to synthesize HECs of Mo-Nb-Ta-V-W. This synthesis process is appealing because the reaction occurs at a high temperature (~2273 K), which allows the carbides to undergo reaction-driven alloying and form nanopowders exhibiting a singular phase without the need for later thermal treatments. HECs were obtained through manipulation of elemental composition and verified by X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy. A spark plasma sintering process produced dense samples of the HECs. Carbon powder (3-5 wt.%) was added to facilitate carbothermal reduction of complex oxides during sintering. Details of microstructure and elemental composition before and after plasma exposure experiments will be described. |