The hierarchical energy landscape of screw dislocation motion in refractory high-entropy alloys

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) with concentrated solid solutions are conceived to possess a rugged atomic and energy landscape in which dislocation motion necessarily proceeds accommodate mechanical deformation. Fundamental questions remain as how rough the is what extent it can be influenced by local ordering of their constituent elements. Here, we construct report potential (PEL) governing screw refractory HEAs that reveals hierarchical multilevel structure collection small basins nested large metabasin. This striking feature pertaining exerts trapping force back stress on saddle point activations, retarding movement. By introducing chemical short-range order, smoothed but skewed different degrees shifts rate-liming process from kink-glide kink-pair nucleation. The disorder-roughened PEL HEAs, analogous structural disorder induced metallic glasses, signifies role various barrier-hopping processes underlying extraordinary behaviors two distinct groups materials.