High-throughput design of refractory multi principal element alloys for laser processing

Refractory multi principal element alloys are promising for high temperature structural applications, but their high melting temperatures and segregation during bulk processing restrict conventional manufacturing routes. Laser-based melting or remelting enables localized high energy input and rapid cooling for these chemistries, yet crack-free processing remains a primary bottleneck. A key gap is the absence of screening workflows that explicitly target laser melting and validate predictions under relevant thermal conditions. Here, we implement staged screening plus validation framework that down-selects refractory ternary compositions and tests whether predicted solidification behavior remains compatible with laser remelting. A total of 3420 ternary compositions in the Hf–Mo–Nb–Ta–Ti–Zr system, covering all twenty ternary subsystems, were screened by equilibrium CALculation of PHAse Diagrams (CALPHAD) in TC-Python simulations for body-centered cubic (BCC) structure stability above 1000 °C, liquidus between 1680 °C and 2000 °C, and ΔT ≤ 50 °C to select six candidates, then ranked by Scheil Gulliver predictions and the Clyne crack susceptibility coefficient. Nb 25 Ti 20 Zr 55 and Hf 45 Nb 30 Ti 25 remained BCC dominated after arc melting and homogenization at 1350 °C for 1 h and successfully produced crack-free low porosity single track melt pools at 15.0 to 30.0 J mm −2 . This framework links thermodynamic down selection to an operational crack-free remelt criterion.