High entropy and compositionally complex materials have attracted attention in the materials community. However, the use of expensive and often less sustainable elements makes it challenging to compete with existing alloys. In a collaborative effort led by Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials, researchers from the research groups Functional Materials and Theory of Magnetic Materials at TU Darmstadt have therefore summarized opportunities and trends in functional high entropy alloys, where the high production costs might become compensated by gains in properties and/or material features that existing alloys do not provide.

The review hence shifts the focus in this field towards multifunctional property profiles, including electronic, electrochemical, mechanical, magnetic, catalytic, hydrogen-related, Invar and caloric characteristics. The researchers show that interesting design opportunities are lurking in combining several of these features, rendering high entropy materials multifunctional without sacrificing their good mechanical properties.

Pulication

L. Han, S. Zhu, Z. Rao, C. Scheu, D. Ponge, A. Ludwig, H. Zhang, O. Gutfleisch, H. Hahn, Z. Li, D. Raabe
Nature Reviews Materials 8176 (2024).
DOI: 10.1038/s41578-024-00720-y