Synthesizability, hardness, and stacking order in multicomponent transition metal carbides from machine-learned potentials
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arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866914612762378240 |
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| author | Liu, Xin Natarajan, Anirudh Raju |
| author_facet | Liu, Xin Natarajan, Anirudh Raju |
| contents | Multicomponent transition metal carbides are promising for extreme-environment applications, but identifying compositions that are both synthesizable and hard remains challenging. We fine-tune the MACE machine-learned interatomic potential on approximately 28,000 density functional theory calculations spanning the composition space of groups 4-6 transition metals and carbon to predict the thermodynamic stability and elastic properties of multicomponent carbides. The fine-tuned model achieves formation energy errors of ~ 10 meV/atom for thermodynamically relevant structures with only 20% of the training data. We screen over 1500 equiatomic compositions across rocksalt, hexagonal, and hcp prototypes, combining free energy models with elasticity-based hardness surrogates. Synthesizability predictions at 1500°C agree well with experimental reports for both single-phase and multiphase carbides. The group number of the constituent metals governs both stability and hardness. Free energy contributions from short-range order are small, typically a few meV/atom, indicating that a perfectly disordered solid solution provides a reasonable approximation for high-throughput screening. For compositions mixing group 4/5 and group 6 metals, we identify a new family of stacking-ordered phases with formation energies well below those of disordered rocksalt or hexagonal structures. DFT calculations corroborate these predictions and suggest that stacking-ordered phases should be experimentally accessible in multicomponent carbides. This study provides a framework for screening synthesizable multicomponent materials with target properties, identifies promising carbide compositions across the full nine-component space, and reveals a new class of stacking-ordered carbides accessible only in multicomponent compositions. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_29482 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Synthesizability, hardness, and stacking order in multicomponent transition metal carbides from machine-learned potentials Liu, Xin Natarajan, Anirudh Raju Materials Science Multicomponent transition metal carbides are promising for extreme-environment applications, but identifying compositions that are both synthesizable and hard remains challenging. We fine-tune the MACE machine-learned interatomic potential on approximately 28,000 density functional theory calculations spanning the composition space of groups 4-6 transition metals and carbon to predict the thermodynamic stability and elastic properties of multicomponent carbides. The fine-tuned model achieves formation energy errors of ~ 10 meV/atom for thermodynamically relevant structures with only 20% of the training data. We screen over 1500 equiatomic compositions across rocksalt, hexagonal, and hcp prototypes, combining free energy models with elasticity-based hardness surrogates. Synthesizability predictions at 1500°C agree well with experimental reports for both single-phase and multiphase carbides. The group number of the constituent metals governs both stability and hardness. Free energy contributions from short-range order are small, typically a few meV/atom, indicating that a perfectly disordered solid solution provides a reasonable approximation for high-throughput screening. For compositions mixing group 4/5 and group 6 metals, we identify a new family of stacking-ordered phases with formation energies well below those of disordered rocksalt or hexagonal structures. DFT calculations corroborate these predictions and suggest that stacking-ordered phases should be experimentally accessible in multicomponent carbides. This study provides a framework for screening synthesizable multicomponent materials with target properties, identifies promising carbide compositions across the full nine-component space, and reveals a new class of stacking-ordered carbides accessible only in multicomponent compositions. |
| title | Synthesizability, hardness, and stacking order in multicomponent transition metal carbides from machine-learned potentials |
| topic | Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.29482 |