Ablation threshold and temperature dependent thermal conductivity of high entropy carbide thin films

TL;DR

This study investigates the high-temperature thermal conductivity and ablation resistance of high entropy carbide thin films, revealing temperature-dependent behavior and correlations with material composition and hardness.

Contribution

It provides the first measurements of thermal conductivity of HECs up to 1200°C and compares their thermal shock resistance with refractory carbides.

Findings

Thermal conductivity increases with temperature in HECs.

Carbon content affects thermal conductivity but not temperature trend.

Ablation threshold correlates with theoretical hardness.

Abstract

High entropy carbides (HECs) are a promising new class of ultra-high temperature ceramics that could provide novel material solutions for leading edges of hypersonic vehicles, which can reach temperatures above 3500C and experience extreme thermal gradients. Although the mechanical and thermal properties of HECs have been studied extensively at room temperature, few works have examined HEC properties at high temperatures or considered these materials' responses to thermal shock. In this work, we measure the thermal conductivity of a five-cation HEC up to 1200C. We find that thermal conductivity increases with temperature, consistent with trends demonstrated in single-metal carbides. We also measure thermal conductivity of an HEC deposited with varying CH4 flow rate, and find that although thermal conductivity is reduced when carbon content surpasses stoichiometric concentrations, the films all exhibited the same temperature dependent trends regardless of carbon content. To compare the thermal shock resistance of HECs with a refractory carbide, we conduct pulsed laser ablation measurements to determine the fluence threshold the HECs can withstand before damaging. We find that this metric for the average bond strength trends with the theoretical hardness of the HECs as expected.