Critical Assessment of Mass and Lattice Disorder in Thermal Conductivity Prediction for Medium and High Entropy Ceramics

Medium and high entropy ceramics, with their distinctive disordered structures, exhibit ultra-low thermal conductivity and high temperature stability. These properties make them strong contenders for next generation thermal barrier coating (TBC) materials. However, predicting their thermal conductivity has been challenging, primarily due to their unique phonon scattering mechanisms. Apart from the conventional phonon-phonon scattering mechanism, the phonon-disorder scattering, comprising both mass and force disorder, are also expected to make significant contribution in determining the thermal conductivity of medium and high entropy ceramics. However, it remains challenging to quantify the phonon-disorder contribution, particular in the aspect of force disorder. Here we demonstrated a relationship between the lattice disorder, a quantity more readily calculable, with force disorder, rending it possible to substitute the force disorder by lattice disorder. Based on this relationship and drawing inspiration from Klement’s equation of static imperfection, we have developed a model that quantitatively assess the connection between disorder and thermal conductivity. Applying our model to the medium/high entropy rocksalt and pyrochlore oxides as the representative, we found good alignment between the theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of thermal conductivities, confirming the validity of our model. The model developed offers a critical predictive tool for rapid screening of TBC materials based on medium and high entropy ceramics.