Dual sinter-aids to fabricate high-entropy transition metal carbide ceramic and their properties

Due to excellent performances and easy adjustability, more and more researchers pay attention to high-entropy ceramics, which can be applied in many fields. In this work, a high-entropy transition metal carbide ceramic, (Hf0.2Ta0.2Zr0.2Nb0.2W0.2)C, was fabricated by pressureless sintering method. To obtain highly dense ceramic, dual sintering aids (Cr3C2 and C), are employed in the sintering process. Owing to suitable microstructure (grain size and defect density), the ceramics exhibit excellent electric conductivity(0.7040 MS/m) and flexural strength (378 +/- 11.4 MPa). Meanwhile, the relationship between electromagnetic shielding effectiveness and different aid content in the X-band is also investigated. The P3 ceramic with a thickness of 1 mm can achieve an EMI shielding efficiency of 92 dB in the X-band as a result of the stronger interface polarization and relaxation effects. High-entropy ceramic obtained in this work would give a different way to fabricate shielding material and can promote the use of high-entropy ceramics as effective EMI shielding materials.