SavedAdd your journal

Journals / International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences / 2026 / Volume: 12 Issue: 1

Development and Characterization of MoSi₂-Added (HfZrTaTiW)C-Based Composites

Kübra Gürcan Bayrak(ESKISEHIR TECHNICAL UNIVERSİTY)0000-0003-0434-1518
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-06-22
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

These findings demonstrate that MoSi2 addition provides an effective route to develop dense, homogeneous, and mechanically robust HEC-based composites.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:High-entropy carbides (HECs) have recently attracted considerable attention due to their exceptional thermal and mechanical stability.
📊
Key Findings & Data:In this study, molybdenum disilicide (MoSi₂) was incorporated into a high-entropy carbide matrix for the first time.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:These findings demonstrate that MoSi2 addition provides an effective route to develop dense, homogeneous, and mechanically robust HEC-based composites.
🔬Design:Research Article
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:High Entropy Ceramics (HECs) · SiC · MoSi2

Abstract

High-entropy carbides (HECs) have recently attracted considerable attention due to their exceptional thermal and mechanical stability. However, the compositional design of these systems has mostly focused on monolithic structures or variants reinforced with silicon carbide (SiC). In this study, molybdenum disilicide (MoSi₂) was incorporated into a high-entropy carbide matrix for the first time. This novel approach significantly improved both microstructural uniformity and mechanical performance. An equimolar (HfZrTaTiW)C system and its SiC and MoSi2 containing composites were synthesized through high-energy ball milling followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The applied two-step SPS schedule effectively promoted carbothermal reduction, leading to the formation of a dense, single-phase rock-salt structure. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses revealed that Mo atoms derived from MoSi₂ were successfully incorporated into the multicomponent carbide lattice rather than forming a separate silicide phase. This incorporation caused a slight lattice contraction accompanied by solid-solution strengthening. The optimized HEC reached a relative density of 98.3%, while the MoSi2-reinforced composite achieved 99.8% of theoretical density, exhibiting a hardness of 28.5 GPa and a fracture toughness of 5.2 MPa.m1/2. These findings demonstrate that MoSi2 addition provides an effective route to develop dense, homogeneous, and mechanically robust HEC-based composites.

🔖

Cite This Article

Bayrak, K. G. (2026). Development and Characterization of MoSi₂-Added (HfZrTaTiW)C-Based Composites. International Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, Volume: 12 Issue: 1. https://doi.org/10.29132/ijpas.1816360

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (50)

  1. B. Cantor, I. T. H. Chang, P. Knight, and A. J. B. Vincent, “Microstructural development in equiatomic multicomponent alloys,” Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 375–377, pp. 213–218, 2004, doi: 10.1016/j.msea.2003.10.257.
  2. J.-W. Yeh et al., “Formation of simple crystal structures in Cu-Co-Ni-Cr-Al-Fe-Ti-V alloys with multiprincipal metallic elements,” Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 2533–2536, 2004, doi: 10.1007/s11661-006-0234-4.
  3. J.-W. Yeh, “Alloy Design Strategies and Future Trends in High-Entropy Alloys,” JOM, vol. 65, no. 12, pp. 1759–1771, 2013, doi: 10.1007/s11837-013-0761-6.
  4. Y. P. Wang, D. Y. Li, L. Parent, and H. Tian, “Improving the wear resistance of white cast iron using a new concept – High-entropy microstructure,” Wear, vol. 271, no. 9, pp. 1623–1628, 2011, doi:10.1016/j.wear.2010.12.029.
  5. B. S. Murty, J. W. Yeh, S. Ranganathan, and P. P. Bhattacharjee, “1 - A brief history of alloys and the birth of high-entropy alloys,” in High-Entropy Alloys (Second Edition), B. S. Murty, J. W. Yeh, S. Ranganathan, and P. P. Bhattacharjee, Eds., Elsevier, 2019, pp. 1–12. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-816067-1.00001-1.
  6. A. J. Wright and J. Luo, “A step forward from high-entropy ceramics to compositionally complex ceramics: a new perspective,” J. Mater. Sci., vol. 55, no. 23, pp. 9812–9827, 2020, doi: 10.1007/s10853-020-04583-w.
  7. E. Castle, T. Csanádi, S. Grasso, J. Dusza, and M. Reece, “Processing and Properties of High-Entropy Ultra-High Temperature Carbides,” Sci. Rep., vol. 8, no. 1, p. 8609, 2018, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26827-1.
  8. M. Biesuz et al., “Interfacial reaction between ZrNbHfTa foil and graphite: Formation of high-entropy carbide and the effect of heating rate on its microstructure,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 40, no. 7, pp. 2699–2708, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2019.12.011.
  9. S. Kavak et al., “Synthesis and characterization of (HfMoTiWZr)C high entropy carbide ceramics,” Ceram. Int., vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 7695–7705, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.ceramint.2021.11.317.
  10. J. Li et al., “Optimized process and superior toughness of a (HfNbTaTiW)C high entropy carbide ceramic,” Ceram. Int., vol. 50, no. 18, pp. 32129–32137, Sep. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2024.06.017.
  11. L. He et al., “Host lattice and solid solution formation in an octal-cation (NbTaZrTiHfVWMo)C high entropy carbide ceramic,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 43, no. 14, pp. 5792–5801, Nov. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2023.06.061.
  12. Y. Liu et al., “Low-temperature sintered (Ti, Zr, Nb, Ta, Mo)C ceramics with improved hardness and toughness by using CrN as sintering additive,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 107, no. 5, pp. 2800–2808, May 2024, doi: 10.1111/jace.19680.
  13. D. L. Hu, Q. Zheng, H. Gu, D. W. Ni, and G. J. Zhang, “Role of WC additive on reaction, solid-solution and densification in HfB 2 -SiC ceramics,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 611–619, 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2013.10.007.
  14. Y. Cheng et al., “Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of HfC-SiC Ceramics Influenced by WC Addition,” Materials, vol. 16, no. 9, May 2023, doi: 10.3390/ma16093337.
  15. F. Monteverde and L. Silvestroni, “Combined effects of WC and SiC on densification and thermo-mechanical stability of ZrB2 ceramics,” Mater. Des., vol. 109, Jul. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.matdes.2016.06.114.
  16. L. Lu et al., “Single-source-precursor synthesis of dense monolithic SiC/(Ti0.25Zr0.25Hf0.25Ta0.25)C ceramic nanocomposite with excellent high-temperature oxidation resistance,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 44, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2023.09.074.
  17. H. Wang, S. Wang, Y. Cao, W. Liu, and Y. Wang, “Oxidation behaviors of (Hf0.25Zr0.25Ta0.25Nb0.25)C and (Hf0.25Zr0.25Ta0.25Nb0.25)C-SiC at 1300–1500 °C,” J. Mater. Sci. Technol., vol. 60, Jul. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.jmst.2020.05.037.
  18. W. Guo, J. Hu, Y. Ye, and S. Bai, “Ablation behavior of (TiZrHfNbTa)C high-entropy ceramics with the addition of SiC secondary under an oxyacetylene flame,” Ceram. Int., vol. 48, no. 9, pp. 12790–12799, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.01.149.
  19. D. Sciti, A. Balbo, and A. Bellosi, “Oxidation behaviour of a pressureless sintered HfB2-MoSi2 composite,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 1809–1815, 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2008.09.018.
  20. A. G. EVANS and E. A. CHARLES, “Fracture Toughness Determinations by Indentation,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 59, no. 7–8, pp. 371–372, Jul. 1976, doi:10.1111/j.1151-2916.1976.tb10991.x.
  21. C. Suryanarayana, “Mechanical alloying and milling,” Prog. Mater. Sci., vol. 46, no. 1–2, pp. 1–184, 2001.
  22. C. Suryanarayana, “Mechanical alloying: a critical review,” Mater. Res. Lett., vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 619–647, 2022.
  23. M. Qin, J. Gild, H. Wang, T. Harrington, K. S. Vecchio, and J. Luo, “Dissolving and stabilizing soft WB2 and MoB2 phases into high-entropy borides via boron-metals reactive sintering to attain higher hardness,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 40, no. 12, pp. 4348–4353, 2020.
  24. G. Tallarita, R. Licheri, S. Garroni, R. Orrù, and G. Cao, “Novel processing route for the fabrication of bulk high-entropy metal diborides,” Scr. Mater., vol. 158, pp. 100–104, 2019.
  25. J. Gild et al., “High-entropy metal diborides: a new class of high-entropy materials and a new type of ultrahigh temperature ceramics,” Sci. Rep., vol. 6, no. 1, p. 37946, 2016.
  26. S. Kavak et al., “First principles calculations and synthesis of multi-phase (HfTiWZr)B2 high entropy diboride ceramics: Microstructural, mechanical and thermal characterization,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 768–782, 2023, doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.10.047.
  27. M. Ali and M. Ürgen, “Tantalum carbide-graphite composite film synthesized by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition,” vol. 84, no. 12, pp. 2499–2506, 2012, doi: doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-11-12-01.
  28. S. M. M. Shafiei, M. Divandari, S. M. A. Boutorabi, and R. Naghizadeh, “Characterization of TiCN thin films deposited by Dc-Pulsed PACVD using methane precursor,” Materials Research, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 1651–1657, Nov. 2014, doi: 10.1590/1516-1439.309514.
  29. K. G. Bayrak, Ö. N. Umutlu, L. Koroglu, and B. Demir, “Mechanical characteristics of dual-phase medium-entropy boride/carbide ceramics synthesized through SPS,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.1111/jace.20282.
  30. X. Tang, G. B. Thompson, K. Ma, and C. R. Weinberger, “The role of entropy and enthalpy in high entropy carbides,” Comput. Mater. Sci., vol. 210, p. 111474, 2022, doi:10.1016/j.commatsci.2022.111474.
  31. O. Adjaoud, G. Steinle-Neumann, B. P. Burton, and A. van de Walle, “First-principles phase diagram calculations for the HfC--TiC, ZrC--TiC, and HfC--ZrC solid solutions,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 80, no. 13, p. 134112, Oct. 2009, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.80.134112.
  32. P. Sarker et al., “High-entropy high-hardness metal carbides discovered by entropy descriptors,” Nat. Commun., vol. 9, no. 1, p. 4980, 2018, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07160-7.
  33. J. Pötschke, M. Dahal, A. Vornberger, M. Herrmann, and A. Michaelis, “Production and Properties of High Entropy Carbide Based Hardmetals,” Metals (Basel)., vol. 11, no. 2, 2021, doi: 10.3390/met11020271.
  34. R. Kruzel, T. Dembiczak, and J. Wachowicz, “Optimization of Spark Plasma Sintering Technology by Taguchi Method in the Production of a Wide Range of Materials: Review,” Materials, vol. 16, no. 16, 2023, doi: 10.3390/ma16165539.
  35. Z.-Y. Hu, Z.-H. Zhang, X.-W. Cheng, F.-C. Wang, Y.-F. Zhang, and S.-L. Li, “A review of multi-physical fields induced phenomena and effects in spark plasma sintering: Fundamentals and applications,” Mater. Des., vol. 191, p. 108662, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2020.108662.
  36. K. Gürcan and E. Ayas, “In-situ synthesis and densification of HfB2 ceramics by the spark plasma sintering technique,” Ceram. Int., vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 3547–3555, 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.11.164.
  37. L. Koroglu and E. Ayas, “In-situ synthesis and densification of CeB6 ceramics by spark plasma sintering from CeO2 and B powders: Effect of boron content and boron particle size on microstructural, mechanical and electrical properties,” Mater. Chem. Phys., vol. 240, p. 122253, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2019.122253.
  38. A. Sondhi, C. Morandi, R. F. Reidy, and T. W. Scharf, “Theoretical and experimental investigations on the mechanism of carbothermal reduction of zirconia,” Ceram. Int., vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 4489–4497, 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2012.11.043.
  39. N. Obradović et al., “Effect of mechanical activation on carbothermal synthesis and densification of ZrC,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 43, no. 16, pp. 7306–7313, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2023.08.007.
  40. C. M. Silva, K. J. Kondrat, K. S. Holliday, and S. J. McCormack, “Crystallographic Study of Product Phases of Carbothermic Reduction and Nitridation of Hafnium Dioxide,” Inorg. Chem., vol. 62, no. 30, pp. 11910–11919, Jul. 2023, doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01333.
  41. E. A. Gulbransen and S. A. Jansson, “The high-temperature oxidation, reduction, and volatilization reactions of silicon and silicon carbide,” Oxidation of Metals, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 181–201, 1972, doi: 10.1007/BF00613092.
  42. S.-Q. Guo, T. Nishimura, T. Mizuguchi, and Y. Kagawa, “Mechanical properties of hot-pressed ZrB2–MoSi2–SiC composites,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 28, no. 9, pp. 1891–1898, 2008, doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2008.01.003.
  43. Tyler, “UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title High Entropy Carbides: Modeling, Synthesis, and Properties.” [Online]. Available: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4x88244f
  44. H. Zhang, Synthesis of metallic/high entropy ceramic composite and a study of the phase transformation mechanism. [Online]. Available: www.ltu.se
  45. J. García, V. Collado Ciprés, A. Blomqvist, and B. Kaplan, “Cemented carbide microstructures: a review,” Apr. 01, 2019, Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2018.12.004.
  46. C. Zhang, H. Yin, Y. Du, Y. Pan, and P. Deng, “Thermodynamic modeling of the Ta–Mo–C ternary system,” CALPHAD, vol. 59, pp. 99–106, Dec. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.calphad.2017.09.003.
  47. W. Xiong et al., “Thermodynamic assessment of the Mo-Nb-Ta system,” in Calphad: Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry, Jun. 2004, pp. 133–140. doi: 10.1016/j.calphad.2004.07.002.
  48. S. Ghadami, E. Taheri-Nassaj, H. R. Baharvandi, and F. Ghadami, “Densification, solid solution formation, and microstructural investigation of reactive pressureless sintered HfB2-TiB2-SiC-MoSi2 quadruplet composite,” Ceram. Int., vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 16794–16800, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2021.02.252.
  49. K. Lu et al., “Microstructures and mechanical properties of high-entropy (Ti0.2Zr0.2Hf0.2Nb0.2Ta0.2)C ceramics with the addition of SiC secondary phase,” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., vol. 40, May 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2019.12.056.
  50. P. M. Brune et al., “Hardness of single phase high entropy carbide ceramics with different compositions,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 135, no. 16, p. 165106, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.1063/5.0198141.