| Abstract Scope |
Refractory metals exhibit high strength at high temperature, but often lack ductility. Multi-
principle element alloys such as high entropy alloys offer the potential to improve ductility while
maintaining strength, but we don’t know a−priori what compositions will be suitable. A number
of measures have been proposed to predict the ductility of metals, notably the Pugh ratio, the
Rice-Thomson D-parameter, among others. Here we examine direct ab − initio simulation of de-
formation under tensile strain, and we apply this to a variety of Nb- and Mo-based binary alloys
and to several quaternary alloy systems. Our results exhibit a variety of ductility mechanisms
including slip, stacking faults, transformation and twinning. We relate these deformations to other
predictors of ductility, and we correlate these with each other. |