Journal article Unlocking ultrastrong high-temperature ceramics via non-equimolar refractory metal high-entropy nitrides
O. V. Pshyk (author) (Search by this author)
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9237-6512 (unauthenticated)
ORCID ;
A. Vasylenko (author) (Search by this author)
;
P. Küttel (author) (Search by this author)
;
B. Wicher (author) (Search by this author)
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7104-3196 (unauthenticated)
ORCID ;
P. Schweizer (author) (Search by this author)
;
J. Michler (author) (Search by this author)
; ORCID SAMURAI
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O. V. Pshyk, A. Vasylenko, P. Küttel, B. Wicher, P. Schweizer, J. Michler, T.E.J. Edwards. Unlocking ultrastrong high-temperature ceramics via non-equimolar refractory metal high-entropy nitrides. Communications Materials. 2025, 7 (1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-01047-z

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(abstract)

Refractory ceramic materials are critical for applications in extreme high temperature environments. Refractory high-entropy ceramics belong to this class of materials and show great potential due to their remarkable combination of properties. Traditionally, increasing compositional complexity and chemical diversity of high-entropy ceramics whilst maintaining a stable single-phase solid solution has been a primary design strategy for developing new ceramics. Here, we unveil an alternative strategy based on deviation from conventional equimolar composition towards non-equimolar composition space, enabling tuning the metastability level of the supersaturated single-phase solid solution. By employing high-temperature micromechanical testing and post-mortem microstructural characterization of refractory metal-based high-entropy nitrides, we observed the activation of an additional strengthening mechanism upon spinodal decomposition of the metastable phase into coherent cubic-phase domains exhibiting compositional modulation. This process propels the yield strength of a non-equimolar nitride at 1000 C to a staggering 6.9 GPa, that is 43% higher than the most robust equimolar nitride.

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Date published: 2025-12-27

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Journal:

  • Communications Materials (ISSN: 26624443) vol. 7 issue. 1 35

Funding:

  • National Science Centre of Poland SONATINA 2 project, UMO-2018/28/C/ ST5/00476
  • Foundation for Polish Science START 72.2020
  • Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange PPN/BE K/2019/1/00146/U/00001
  • Warsaw University of Technology 1820/74/Z09/2023
  • European Union Horizon 2020 840222

Manuscript type: Publisher's version (Version of record)

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First published URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-01047-z

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Updated at: 2026-04-10 18:40:35 +0900

Published on MDR: 2026-04-13 10:23:12 +0900

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