# Fragmenting Diffusion Pathways Confers Extraordinary Radiation Resistance in Refractory Multicomponent Alloys Source: [Fragmenting Diffusion Pathways Confers Extraordinary Radiation Resistance in Refractory Multicomponent Alloys]() Collection index: [llms.txt]() Data updated: 2026-03-05T05:00:04.307Z Authors: Bin Xing, Bijun Xie, Wanjuan Zou, Eric Lang, Evgeniy Boltynjuk, Hangman Chen, Michael P Short, George Tynan, Timothy J Rupert, Jason Trelewicz, Horst Hahn, Blas P Uberuaga, Khalid Hattar, Penghui Cao Published: 2026-03-03T06:36:32.000Z ## 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. ## Recorded benchmark results A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage. ## Original sources and implementation [Original paper]() [PDF]()