Defining Pathways for Realizing the Revolutionary Potential of High Entropy Alloys

Defining Pathways for Realizing the Revolutionary Potential of High Entropy Alloys

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Scientific exploration in the field of high entropy alloys, known as HEAs, has recently exploded. First reported in about 2004, HEAs were defined originally as a blend of five or more elements with concentrations between five to 35 atom percent, and with a strong preference towards single-phase, solid solution metallic alloys. Later, the field branched to include intermetallic and ceramic compounds, alloys with as few as three principle elements, and microstructures with any number and type of phases. Today, researchers face vast combinations of elements with which to work, and they eagerly seek to learn more about HEA compositions, microstructures, promising property combinations, and opportunities for a wide variety of applications in both structural and functional materials. HEA development offers tremendous potential not only for expanding scientific knowledge, but also for creating a broad range of revolutionary products for strategic, economic, and national security benefits.

Defining Pathways for Realizing the Revolutionary Potential of High Entropy Alloys is organized by TMS on behalf of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) via the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The study examines the extensive work being performed in this emerging field with the goal of providing science and technology pathways to accelerate realization of the wide-reaching potential of HEAs in some key application areas and alloy categories.

Study Features

Defining Pathways for Realizing the Revolutionary Potential of High Entropy Alloys

Describes the current state of HEA technologies.
Provides a prioritized list of applications and alloy domains of most promise, particularly for defense-related applications.
Identifies the key technology gaps, barriers, and enablers of the next stage of research in areas with the greatest potential for impact.
Proposes recommendations and action plans toward significant progress within the next three to five years in the scientific exploration, engineering development, and industrial implementation of HEAs.

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Suggested Citation: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), Defining Pathways for Realizing the Revolutionary Potential of High Entropy Alloys (Pittsburgh, PA: TMS 2021). Electronic copies available at www.tms.org/HEApathways.

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Meet the Lead Expert Study Team

Dan Miracle, Study Team Chair

Air Force Research Laboratory

Donald Brenner

North Carolina State University

Andy Detor

GE Corporate Research Laboratory

Michael Gao

National Energy Technology Laboratory

Kathy Flores

Washington University in St. Louis

Easo George

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
University of Tennessee

Christopher Haines

Army Research Laboratory

Keith Knipling

Naval Research Laboratory

John Lewandowski

Case Western Reserve University

Tresa Pollock

University of California, Santa Barbara

John Scully

University of Virginia

Alejandro Strachan

Purdue University

Mitra Taheri

Johns Hopkins University

Mitra Taheri is a professor of materials science and engineering and the director of the Materials Characterization and Processing (MCP) Center at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Prior to her position at JHU, Taheri held the Hoeganaes Endowed Chair Professorship in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Drexel University. She has received numerous awards, including but not limited to: NSF CAREER Award, DOE Early Career Award, ONR Summer Faculty Fellowship, Microscopy Innovation Award, R&D 100 Award, U.S. Steel Graduate Fellowship, and MRS Graduate Student Award. Taheri obtained her PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a U.S. Steel Graduate Scholarship, a Materials Research Society Graduate Student Award, was inducted as a member of Sigma Xi, and was a visiting scholar at RWTH Aachen University, the National Center for Electron Microscopy (LBL), and Northwestern University’s Center for Atom Probe Tomography. Following her doctoral studies, Taheri was an NRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where her group’s work on the Dynamic TEM project received an R&D 100 award, a Nano-50, and the Microscopy Society of America’s Microscopy Innovation Award. She has received the NSF and DOE Early Career awards, an ONR Summer Faculty Fellowship, and was faculty scholar at the Politecnico di Milano, in Milan, Italy. Taheri has published over 100 articles in journals such as Science, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, Nanoletters, and Acta Materialia, and has garnered over 150 invited and keynote presentations and seminars across the world. She recently served on the editorial board for both the Journal of Materials Research and Nature Scientific Reports.

Taheri leads the Dynamic Characterization Group, focusing on the development and use of innovative in situ microscopy and spectroscopy to characterize microstructural evolution and properties of materials in a wide variety of environments and external stimuli. Her current research focuses on the following topics: instrumentation development for electron microscopy and spectroscopy; machine learning; high throughput methodologies; physical metallurgy and in particular, understanding microstructural evolution; materials processing; metal additive manufacturing (3D printing), magnetic composite development; optimization and in situ processing of quantum materials, 2D materials, and surfaces; and biomaterials, with a particular focus on maternal fetal medicine.

Michael Titus

Purdue University

Ali Yousefiani

The Boeing Company

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