Synthesis of(HfZrTiNbTa)N powders via nitride thermal reduction with soft mechano-chemical assistance

High-entropy nitride powders are one of prerequisite materials for the preparation of high-performance high-entropy nitride ceramics.In this paper,high-entropy(HfZrTiNbTa)N powders were synthesized via nitride(i.e.,silicon nitride(Si_(3)N_(4)))thermal reduction with soft mechanochemical assistance.The results show that metal oxides like hafnium dioxide(HfO_(2)),zirconium dioxide(ZrO_(2)),titanium dioxide(TiO_(2)),niobium pentoxide(Nb_(2)O_(5)),and tantalum pentoxide(Ta_(2)O_(5))can all be transformed into the corresponding metal nitrides in the presence of Si_(3)N_(4)at 1700℃,and solid solution of the metal nitrides can be formed as the temperature increases to 2100℃.The high-entropy(HfZrTiNbTa)N powders with submicron-sized particles,a narrower size distribution,and a single face-centered cubic(fcc)structure are obtained from raw material mixtures ground for 10 h and subsequently sintered at 1800℃.In addition,the high-entropy bulk nitride ceramics with relative density(Rw)of 94.31%±0.76%,Vickers hardness of 21.00±0.94 GPa,and fracture toughness(KIC)of 3.18±0.16 MPa·m1/2 are obtained with submicron-sized powders,which are superior to those obtained with micron-sized powders.