High Entropy Alloys (HEA) were discovered in 2004, closely followed in 2005 by the discovery of High Entropy Ceramics (HEC). High entropy materials are defined as multi-component materials containing at least five various elements with at least 5-35 at% and entropy of mixing higher than 1.5R. HECs differ from HEA by the addition of an additional non-metallic element (for example, O, C, B, N, Si) with a role of an anion. Both of these material groups are multi-component and are stabilized thanks to the changes of balance between the Gibbs energy and entropy of mixing. These advanced materials bring better mechanical and functional properties than traditional ceramics and alloys. For example, in the case of high entropy carbides, this means higher hardness or oxidation resistance, making them promising candidates for cutting tool applications or for ultra-high temperature applications.

Preparation of HEC requires lengthy high-energy ball milling processes of elemental powders in order to reach a homogenous mixture of powders before sintering. Furthermore, the reactive sintering of non-oxide high entropy ceramics needs high temperatures and pressures. In the presented work, the vanadium, niobium, molybdenum, tantalum, and tungsten carbide formation by a novel approach was tested. A HEA in the form of powder was mixed together with carbon and subsequently sintered by spark plasma sintering process at a temperature of 2000 °C under an applied pressure of 50 MPa. The result is a composite consisting of sintered HEA and carbides. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the composite microstructure, followed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to check the distribution of the elements. X-Ray diffraction measurement was carried out to identify the phases present. Values of Vickers microhardness for the sintered composite were also gathered. The formation of carbides in the equiatomic metal mixture is discussed.