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High-Entropy Materials: Multi-Scale Design and Behavior Under Extreme Conditions
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High-Entropy Materials: Multi-Scale Design and Behavior Under Extreme Conditions

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1516

Editors

Dr. Dongpeng Hua

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: high entropy alloys; dislocation; nanotribology; irradiation damage; atomic-scale simulations
Prof. Dr. Qing Zhou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center of Advanced Lubrication and Seal Materials, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China
Interests: multilayer film; amorphous; ceramics; friction and wear; computational simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jianbao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Advanced Nuclear Safety and Sustainable Development, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: alloy design; mechanical behavior; irradiation; friction; corrosion
Dr. Jiang Ju

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Interests: additive manufacturing; high-entropy alloy; intermetallic materials; APT&HRTEM; mechanical property
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Weibing Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Advanced Nuclear Safety and Sustainable Development, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: nuclear materials; corrosion; oxidation; high-entropy alloy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

High-entropy materials (HEMs), encompassing alloys, ceramics, and intermetallics, have emerged as a transformative class of materials over the past decade. By leveraging multi-principal element compositions, they offer unprecedented opportunities for tailoring superior mechanical properties, exceptional corrosion and irradiation resistance, and outstanding thermal stability. These capabilities make them highly promising for critical applications in extreme environments, such as advanced energy systems, aerospace propulsion, and next-generation manufacturing.

The continuous exploration of this vast compositional space is being accelerated by synergies between innovative design strategies and manufacturing processes (e.g., additive manufacturing), advanced characterization techniques, and multi-scale computational simulations. These developments are rapidly advancing our understanding of fundamental structure–property relationships in HEMs and expanding their potential for engineering use.

This Special Issue aims to compile cutting-edge research and reviews on the design, processing, characterization, and performance of high-entropy materials. We are pleased to invite contributions that explore the intricate relationships between composition, microstructure, and properties under demanding service conditions.

For this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Novel design of high-entropy alloys, ceramics, and intermetallics.
  • Advanced manufacturing and processing (e.g., additive manufacturing).
  • Behavior under extreme conditions: irradiation damage, corrosion, friction, and wear.
  • Advanced microstructural characterization and in situ studies.
  • Multi-scale computational modeling and machine learning-aided.
  • Friction, wear, and nanotribology of high-entropy and amorphous materials.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

Dr. Dongpeng Hua
Prof. Dr. Qing Zhou
Dr. Jianbao Zhang
Dr. Jiang Ju
Dr. Weibing Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • high-entropy
  • mechanical properties
  • irradiation damage
  • friction and wear
  • corrosion
  • atomic-scale simulation
  • machine-learning
  • additive manufacturing

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6679 KB  
Article
A Cobalt-Free Multi-Principal Elements Alloy with Balanced Mechanical Properties and Exceptional Corrosion Resistance
by Jinhong Deng, Manyu Hua, Yangyang Zheng, Yulong Li, Wei Liu, Jingzhong Fang, Yekun Song and Pengfei Wu
Materials 2026, 19(13), 2724; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19132724 - 25 Jun 2026
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Abstract
This study investigates the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of a Co-free Fe40Ni30Cr20V8Mo2 (at.%) multi-principal elements alloy (MPEA) designed for potential applications in aggressive environments. The alloy exhibits a balanced combination of strength and [...] Read more.
This study investigates the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of a Co-free Fe40Ni30Cr20V8Mo2 (at.%) multi-principal elements alloy (MPEA) designed for potential applications in aggressive environments. The alloy exhibits a balanced combination of strength and ductility, with a yield strength of approximately 258 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength of about 647 MPa, and a fracture elongation of around 52%, of which deformation is primarily governed by dislocation-mediated plasticity. In terms of corrosion performance, the alloy demonstrates excellent resistance in chloride-containing environments. Potentiodynamic polarization tests reveal a wide and stable passive region of approximately 1.28 VSCE and a high pitting potential of about 0.975 VSCE, indicating exceptional stability of the passive film. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) further confirms the high impedance and protective nature of the surface layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis reveals that the superior anti-corrosion property is attributed to the formation of a passive film enriched with protective Cr2O3 and V, Mo oxides, which collectively construct an effective barrier against chloride-induced attack by reducing donor density. This work provides valuable insights for the development of alternative alloys to replace Co-containing systems in demanding corrosive applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Entropy Materials: Multi-Scale Design and Behavior Under Extreme Conditions)
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27 pages, 24860 KB  
Article
Effects of Core–Shell Heterogeneous Grain Structure Topology on Tensile Strength of CoCrFeMnNi High-Entropy Alloy Based on Crystal Plasticity Modeling
by Rubing Fu, Xin Wang, Zhe Zhang and Gang Chen
Materials 2026, 19(12), 2433; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19122433 - 7 Jun 2026
Viewed by 272
Abstract
Heterogeneous grain structured design has emerged as an effective strategy to overcome the limitations of mechanical properties in structural materials. Core–shell heterogeneous grain structured materials exhibit a good strength-ductility synergy owing to their continuously networked grain topology. However, controlling the grain size and [...] Read more.
Heterogeneous grain structured design has emerged as an effective strategy to overcome the limitations of mechanical properties in structural materials. Core–shell heterogeneous grain structured materials exhibit a good strength-ductility synergy owing to their continuously networked grain topology. However, controlling the grain size and fraction in core–shell structures through mechanical milling and powder metallurgy remains challenging. Therefore, the effects of grain structure topology on mechanical behavior remain unclear. This study establishes a crystal plastic finite element (CPFE) model of a core–shell structure and discusses the effects of core–shell topological characteristics, i.e., core–shell fraction (Sf = 15% to 65%), the core–shell interface gradient (θ = 63° to 90°), and the coarse grain/ultrafine grain size ratio (CG/UFG = 8/2 to 8/1), on tensile strength and hetero-deformation induced (HDI) hardening. The results indicate that the tensile strength is strongly correlated with the core–shell fraction and CG/UFG size ratio. The tensile strength is enhanced with increasing core–shell fraction and CG/UFG size ratio, which can be attributed to the increased fraction of ultrafine grains and their reduced grain size. The tensile strength increases by approximately 30% when the core–shell fraction increases from 15% to 65%, and increases by approximately 12% when the CG/UFG size ratio changes from 8/2 to 8/1. However, these two parameters exhibit a negligible influence on HDI hardening. In contrast, compared to θ = 63°, the HDI hardening at θ = 90° increases by approximately 20%, thus it indicates the sharp core–shell interface gradient markedly promotes HDI hardening, thereby improving the tensile strength through an increased hardening rate. Collectively, this study provides useful information for the microstructure design of core–shell heterogeneous grain structured materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Entropy Materials: Multi-Scale Design and Behavior Under Extreme Conditions)
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Graphical abstract

20 pages, 3737 KB  
Article
Physics-Guided Machine Learning for Performance Prediction and Multi-Objective Optimization of High-Conductivity Aluminum Conductors
by Yaojun Miao, Zhikang Cao, Tong Yao, Yufei Wang, Haiyan Gao, Jun Wang and Baode Sun
Materials 2026, 19(9), 1839; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19091839 - 29 Apr 2026
Viewed by 460
Abstract
Producing high-conductivity aluminum conductors for power transmission involves 23 trace elements and multiple interconnected thermo-mechanical stages. The ultra-low alloying levels required to preserve high electrical conductivity create a narrow compositional window and highly imbalanced distributions, which hinder traditional data-driven learning. Here, we developed [...] Read more.
Producing high-conductivity aluminum conductors for power transmission involves 23 trace elements and multiple interconnected thermo-mechanical stages. The ultra-low alloying levels required to preserve high electrical conductivity create a narrow compositional window and highly imbalanced distributions, which hinder traditional data-driven learning. Here, we developed a physics-guided machine-learning framework based on 4458 valid industrial production records to predict tensile strength and electrical resistivity. In addition to raw composition and process parameters, we introduce ratio descriptors (e.g., Fe/Si and Al/Si) and propose a physics-informed metric termed the Equivalent Solute–Heat Index (ESHI) to couple key solute chemistry (Si, Fe, B) with normalized thermal-history intensity. Fe and Si primarily influence resistivity through impurity/solute scattering, while B mainly affects microstructural uniformity via grain refinement. Incorporating ESHI as an augmented signal into the best-performing XGB surrogate markedly improves generalizability, increasing the tensile strength R2 from 0.75 to ~0.92. SHAP analysis reveals that ESHI dominates the decision logic by modulating both targets with metallurgically interpretable mechanisms: solute-controlled scattering and thermal history-traced second-phase evolution that stabilizes the microstructure. NSGA-III was further employed to map the Pareto front and identify composition–process combinations that optimize the strength–conductivity trade-off, enabling improved mechanical reliability while minimizing resistive losses in practical power-transmission applications. Experimental validation on industrial wires confirms this reliability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Entropy Materials: Multi-Scale Design and Behavior Under Extreme Conditions)
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