To further improve the mechanical properties of high-entropy carbides and high-entropy borides ceramic
in this study SiB
6
was introduc
ed as a boron and silicon source into high-entropy carbide (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C
and (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)B
2
–(Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C based composites were synthesized via reactive spark plasma sintering at 2000 ℃. Research findings indicate that SiB
6
reacts with (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C at high temperatures to form high-entropy boride (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)B
2
SiC and C phases. The densification of (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)B
2
–(Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C based composites prepared with SiB
6
addition reaches 98.7%–99.7%. The grain size of high-entropy phases in composite ceramics with 10%–15% SiB
6
addition (volume fraction) is 0.84–0.92 μm
which is smaller than that of pure (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C ceramics (~3.19 μm). Due to the fine grain strengthening
the hardness of (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)B
2
–(Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C based composites (23.54–24.93 GPa) is higher than that of pure (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C ceramics (~23.22 GPa). Additionally
the fracture toughness of (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)B
2
–(Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C based composites increases with the addition of SiB
6
reaching up to 5.07 MPa·m
1/2
which is significantly higher than that of pure (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C ceramics (3.02 MPa·m
1/2
). Using (Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C and SiB
6
as raw materials and employing reactive spark plasma sintering
(Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)B
2
–(Ti
Zr
Nb
Ta
Mo)C based multiphase high-entropy ultra-high temperature ceramics with a fine-grained structure and excellent mechanical properties could be obtained.