Scientific Achievement

  • Researchers in the Damage Tolerance program revealed how chemical complexity and alloying in refractory complex concentrated alloys (RCCAs) govern crack-tip deformation, enhance ductility, and delay catastrophic fracture

Significance and Impact

  • Provides a new pathway to design damage-tolerant structural materials for extreme environments

Research Details

  • Machine-learning interatomic potentials enable accurate modeling of RCCA fracture mechanisms
  • Identified the key role of chemical complexity in promoting dislocation emission over brittle cracking
  • Alloying with group IV elements ductilize the system while with group VI elements embrittle it

Publication Details

W. Wang, P. Kumar, D.H. Cook, F. Walsh, B. Zhang, P.P.P.O. Borges, D. Farkas, R.O. Ritchie, M. Asta. NPJ Computational Materials (2025).

DOI:10.1038/s41524-025-01810-3

Work was performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and in part by NERSC.