Effect of entropy-packing fraction relation on the formation of complex metallic materials

Abstract

By combining a number of elements to form complex metallic materials without a base element, it was recently shown that one can obtain rather complex structures, including random solute solutions, multi-phased mixtures and amorphous structures with/without nano-precipitations. Compared to conventional metallic materials, these complex ones could show excellent mechanical and physical properties across a wide range of temperatures, therefore being a promising advanced material for high-temperature applications; however, designing these complex materials, at present, still lacks a unified physical approach but relies on the choice of a few metallurgical parameters, such as atomic size mismatch, heat of mixing and valence electron concentration. Here, we identify a physical mechanism through the optimization of the excess configurational entropy of mixing in the control of phase formation in these metallic materials. The theoretical framework herein established is expected to provide a new paradigm in pursuit of complex metallic materials with superior properties.