Elucidating the roles of chemistry, compositional complexity, and short-range order in the dislocation energetics of body-centered-cubic concentrated solid solutions

In compositionally complex refractory alloys, the formation of chemical short-range order has been calculated to flatten the spatial distribution of dislocation core energies. This study examines the extent to which such ``narrowing'' effects are unique to many-component systems, or if these results are more generally applicable. The authors computationally investigate how system chemistry, compositional complexity, and the presence of chemical short-range order affect dislocation energy distributions in subsystems of the NbMoTaW alloy. Order-induced narrowing is ultimately found to depend more on chemistry than the number of components.