Skip to main content
Log in

Alloy Design Strategies and Future Trends in High-Entropy Alloys

  • Published:
JOM Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are newly emerging advanced materials. In contrast to conventional alloys, HEAs contain multiple principal elements, often five or more in equimolar or near-equimolar ratios. The basic principle behind HEAs is that solid-solution phases are relatively stabilized by their significantly high entropy of mixing compared to intermetallic compounds, especially at high temperatures. This makes them feasibly synthesized, processed, analyzed, and manipulated, and as well provides many opportunities for us. There are huge numbers of possible compositions and combinations of properties in the HEA field. Wise alloy design strategies for suitable compositions and processes to fit the requirements for either academic studies or industrial applications thus become especially important. In this article, four core effects were emphasized, several misconceptions on HEAs were clarified, and several routes for future HEA research and development were suggested.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. K.H. Huang and J.W. Yeh (Master’s thesis, National Tsing Hua University, 1996).

  2. K.T. Lai, J.W. Yeh, and S.K. Chen (Master’s thesis, National Tsing Hua University, 1998).

  3. C.Y. Hsu, J.W. Yeh, S.K. Chen, and T.T. Shun, Metall. Mater. Trans. A 35A, 1465 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. J.W. Yeh, S.K. Chen, S.J. Lin, J.Y. Gan, T.S. Chin, T.T. Shun, C.H. Tsau, and S.Y. Chang, Adv. Eng. Mater. 6, 299 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. J.W. Yeh, Ann. Chim. Sci. Mater. 31, 633 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. R.A. Swalin, Thermodynamics of Solid, 2nd ed. (New York: Wiley, 1972), pp. 160–164.

    Google Scholar 

  7. B. Fultz, Prog. Mater. Sci. 55, 247 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. J.W. Yeh, Y.L. Chen, S.J. Lin, and S.K. Chen, Mater. Sci. Forum 560, 1 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. W.F. Smith, Structure and Properties of Engineering Alloys (New York: McGraw Hill, 1993), p. 126.

    Google Scholar 

  10. R.E. Reed-Hill and R. Abbaschian, Physical Metallurgy Principles, 3rd ed. (Boston, MA: PWS Publishing Company, 1994), pp. 353–358.

    Google Scholar 

  11. B.D. Cullity and S.R. Stock, Elements of X-Ray Diffraction, 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc, 2001), pp. 331–340.

    Google Scholar 

  12. F. Otto, Y. Yang, H. Bei, and E.P. George, Acta Mater. 61, 2628 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. K.Y. Tsai, M.H. Tsai, and J.W. Yeh, Acta Mater. 61, 4887 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. O.N. Senkov, J.M. Scott, S.V. Senkova, D.B. Miracle, and C.F. Woodward, J. Alloys Compd. 509, 6043 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. C.J. Tong, Y.L. Chen, S.K. Chen, J.W. Yeh, T.T. Shun, C.H. Tsau, S.J. Lin, and S.Y. Chang, Metall. Mater. Trans. A 36A, 881 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Y. Zhang, Y.J. Zhou, J.P. Lin, G.L. Chen, and P.K. Liaw, Adv. Eng. Mater. 10, 534 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. S. Guo and C.T. Liu, Chin. J. Nat. 35, 85 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  18. J.W. Yeh (Presented at the 2009 Cross-Strait Conference on Metallic Glasses, Invited Speech, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, May 2009).

  19. S.T. Chen and J.W. Yeh (Master’s thesis, National Tsing Hua University, 2009).

  20. X. Yang and Y. Zhang, Mater. Chem. Phys. 132, 233 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. R.A. Swalin, Thermodynamics of Solid, 2nd ed. (New York: Wiley, 1972), pp. 263–266.

    Google Scholar 

  22. C.W. Tsai, Y.L. Chen, M.H. Tsai, J.W. Yeh, T.T. Shun, and S.K. Chen, J. Alloys Compd. 486, 427 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. C.Y. Hsu, C.C. Juan, W.R. Wang, T.S. Sheu, J.W. Yeh, and S.K. Chen, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 528, 3581 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. O.N. Senkov, G.B. Wilks, J.M. Scott, and D.B. Miracle, Intermetallics 19, 698 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. M.H. Tsai, C.W. Wang, C.W. Tsai, W.J. Shen, J.W. Yeh, J.Y. Gan, and W.W. Wu, J. Electrochem. Soc. 158, H1161 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. M.H. Tsai, J.W. Yeh, and J.Y. Gan, Thin Solid Films 516, 5527 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. T.T. Shun, C.H. Hung, and C.F. Lee, J. Alloys Compd. 493, 105 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. W.H. Liu, Y. Wu, J.Y. He, T.G. Nieh, and Z.P. Lu, Scr. Mater. 68, 526 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. C.C. Juan, C.Y. Hsu, C.W. Tsai, W.R. Wang, T.S. Sheu, J.W. Yeh, and S.K. Chen, Intermetallics 32, 401 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. O.N. Senkov, G.B. Wilks, D.B. Miracle, C.P. Chuang, and P.K. Liaw, Intermetallics 18, 1758 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Y.F. Kao, S.K. Chen, T.J. Chen, P.C. Chu, J.W. Yeh, and S.J. Lin, J. Alloys Compd. 509, 1607 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. J.W. Yeh, S.Y. Chang, Y.D. Hong, S.K. Chen, and S.J. Lin, Mater. Chem. Phys. 103, 41 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. C.L. Lu, S.Y. Lu, J.W. Yeh, and W.K. Hsu, J. Appl. Crystallogr. 46, 736 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. S. Ranganathan, Curr. Sci. 85, 1404 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Y. Zhang, T. Zuo, Y. Cheng, and P.K. Liaw, Sci. Rep. (2013, in press).

  36. C.J. Tong, M.R. Chen, S.K. Chen, J.W. Yeh, T.T. Shun, S.J. Lin, and S.Y. Chang, Metall. Mater. Trans. A 36A, 1263 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. C.W. Tsai, M.H. Tsai, J.W. Yeh, and C.C. Yang, J. Alloys Compd. 490, 160 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. J.W. Yeh and K.S. Liu, Scr. Mater. 20, 329 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. S.N. Pandeya and D. Thakkar, Indian J. Chem. B 44, 335 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  40. X.D. Xiang, X.D. Sun, G. Briceno, Y.L. Lou, K.A. Wang, H.Y. Chang, W.G. Wallacefreedman, S.W. Chen, and P.G. Schultz, Science 268, 1738 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. B. Welk, P. Liaw, M. Gibson, and H. Fraser (Paper presented at Materials Science & Technology 2012 Conference: Symposium on Fundamental Understanding of High-Entropy Alloy Formation and their Properties, Pittsburgh, PA, October 2012).

  42. M. Morinaga, N. Yukawa, H. Adachi, and H. Ezaki, New PHACOMP and Its Applications to Alloy Design (Toyohashi, Japan: Toyohashi University of Technology, 1985), pp. 523–532.

    Google Scholar 

  43. S. Guo, C. Ng, J. Lu, and C.T. Liu, J. Appl. Phys. 109, 103505 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. S.W. Kao, Y.L. Chen, T.S. Chin, and J.W. Yeh, Ann. Chim. Sci. Mater. 31, 657 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. S.W. Kao, J.W. Yeh, and T.S. Chin, J. Phys. Condens. Matter 20, 145214 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. J.A. Ghani, I.A. Choudhury, and H.H. Hassan, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 145, 84 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. C.Y. Hsu, T.S. Sheu, J.W. Yeh, and S.K. Chen, Wear 268, 653 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. C.Y. Hsu, W.R. Wang, W.Y. Tang, S.K. Chen, and J.W. Yeh, Adv. Eng. Mater. 12, 44 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. C.Y. Hsu, C.C. Juan, T.S. Sheu, S.K. Chen, and J.W. Yeh, JOM 65 (2013). doi:10.1007/s11837-013-0753-6.

  50. K.H. Cheng, C.W. Tsai, S.J. Lin, and J.W. Yeh, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 44, 205405 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. H.T. Hsueh, W.J. Shen, M.H. Tsai, and J.W. Yeh, Surf. Coat. Technol. 206, 4106 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. W.J. Shen, M.H. Tsai, Y.S. Chang, and J.W. Yeh, Thin Solid Films 520, 6183 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. S.Y. Lin, S.Y. Chang, Y.C. Huang, F.S. Shieu, and J.W. Yeh, Surf. Coat. Technol. 206, 5096 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jien-Wei Yeh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yeh, JW. Alloy Design Strategies and Future Trends in High-Entropy Alloys. JOM 65, 1759–1771 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-013-0761-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-013-0761-6

Keywords

Navigation