Fragmenting Diffusion Pathways Confers Extraordinary Radiation Resistance in Refractory Multicomponent Alloys

Abstract

The accumulation and growth of vacancy clusters under irradiation is a pivotal degradation mode for structural materials in extreme environments. Even tungsten undergoes rapid defect coarsening compromising its integrity. Here we show a tungsten multicomponent alloy that effectively fragments the vacancy diffusion network, kinetically trapping defects within localized domains. This effect originates from a broad spectrum of migration barriers and substantial vacancy-jump heterogeneity, which drives the interconnectivity of diffusion paths below the percolation threshold. Starving clusters of the necessary vacancy supply, irradiation experiments and atomic-scale defect characterizations confirm negligible defect growth as radiation doses increase by four orders of magnitude. These results provide a fundamental paradigm for percolation-engineered kinetics, offering a predictive pathway for tailoring defect diffusion and discovering inherently radiation-tolerant materials.