Competing mechanisms toughen bcc binary and medium-entropy alloys at 20 K

Abstract Plastic deformation in body-centred cubic (bcc) metals and alloys is conventionally mediated by screw dislocations. Their temperature-sensitive motion is attributed to a steep rise in strength with decreasing temperature that constricts plastic zones at crack tips, leading to a ductile-to-brittle transition 1 . Here we evaluated the mechanical properties of group IV–V bcc refractory alloys with similar electronic structures at 20 K and found that these materials instead exhibit a plateau in tensile yield strength and fracture toughness as a function of temperature, with no apparent ductile-to-brittle transition. This behaviour arises from the global activation of twinning and an ω-phase transformation, which nucleate dislocations at interfaces before global dislocation motion. The initial mechanism is temperature insensitive and controls yielding, thereby preventing a crack-tip plastic zone from constricting with decreasing temperature.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature
Published
2026-10-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11065-7
Primary Topic
High Entropy Alloys Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Competing mechanisms toughen bcc binary and medium-entropy alloys at 20 K

Calvin Harris Belcher, Madelyn I. Payne, Tung Lik Lee, Arun Devaraj et al.
Nature
High Entropy Alloys Studies
article

Competing mechanisms toughen bcc binary and medium-entropy alloys at 20 K

Calvin Harris Belcher, Madelyn I. Payne, Tung Lik Lee, Arun Devaraj, Enrique J. Lavernia, Andrew M. Minor, David H. Cook, Robert O. Ritchie, Mark Asta, Pedro P. P. O. Borges, Punit Kumar, Diran Apelian, Dong Liu, Michael D O'Leary, Wenqing Wang, Satish Rao, Xiaoyu Chen
article en

Abstract

Abstract Plastic deformation in body-centred cubic (bcc) metals and alloys is conventionally mediated by screw dislocations. Their temperature-sensitive motion is attributed to a steep rise in strength with decreasing temperature that constricts plastic zones at crack tips, leading to a ductile-to-brittle transition 1 . Here we evaluated the mechanical properties of group IV–V bcc refractory alloys with similar electronic structures at 20 K and found that these materials instead exhibit a plateau in tensile yield strength and fracture toughness as a function of temperature, with no apparent ductile-to-brittle transition. This behaviour arises from the global activation of twinning and an ω-phase transformation, which nucleate dislocations at interfaces before global dislocation motion. The initial mechanism is temperature insensitive and controls yielding, thereby preventing a crack-tip plastic zone from constricting with decreasing temperature.

Nature
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (GB), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), Nanyang Technological University (SG), University of California, Irvine (US), University of Bristol (GB), University of Oxford (GB), Science Oxford (GB), ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Molecular Foundry, Texas A&M University (US), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
High Entropy Alloys Studies
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