Fragmenting Diffusion Pathways Confers Extraordinary Radiation Resistance in Refractory Multicomponent Alloys

TL;DR

This study introduces a multicomponent tungsten alloy that disrupts vacancy diffusion pathways, significantly enhancing radiation resistance by trapping defects and preventing their growth under extreme irradiation conditions.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates a novel approach to improve radiation tolerance in refractory alloys by engineering vacancy diffusion networks through compositional heterogeneity.

Findings

Negligible defect growth under high radiation doses.

Fragmented vacancy diffusion pathways prevent defect coalescence.

Atomic-scale experiments confirm the effectiveness of the alloy design.

Abstract

The accumulation and growth of vacancy clusters under irradiation is a pivotal degradation mode for structural materials in extreme environments. Even tungsten undergoes rapid defect coarsening compromising its integrity. Here we show a tungsten multicomponent alloy that effectively fragments the vacancy diffusion network, kinetically trapping defects within localized domains. This effect originates from a broad spectrum of migration barriers and substantial vacancy-jump heterogeneity, which drives the interconnectivity of diffusion paths below the percolation threshold. Starving clusters of the necessary vacancy supply, irradiation experiments and atomic-scale defect characterizations confirm negligible defect growth as radiation doses increase by four orders of magnitude. These results provide a fundamental paradigm for percolation-engineered kinetics, offering a predictive pathway for tailoring defect diffusion and discovering inherently radiation-tolerant materials.