Materials selection considerations for high entropy alloys

Abstract

Increased interest in high entropy alloys (HEA)s has led to significant activity in the development of new equimolar multicomponent metal systems. The present viewpoint article suggests applying a lens of practicality related to alloy economics and resource usage issues. A framework for HEA materials selection is presented to assist the metallurgical community as it searches for HEAs with feasible implementation possibilities, by identifying unsuitable alloying elements based on price or metrics of supply availability. For some metrics, such as price volatility, the elemental diversification in HEAs could prove beneficial, while for others, such as recyclability, elemental breadth introduces significant challenges.