A new space for designing advanced materials

Dr. Liuliu Han heads the new research group “High-Entropy Materials”

How to exploit the properties of different elements to the fullest? Standard material design concepts are based on 1-2 main elements and may add various other elements in much smaller amounts. This concept comes to its limits when advanced materials for high-tech applications are needed. The relatively new material class of high-entropy materials (HEM) aims to exploit the various properties of the constituent elements by adding them in unbounded ratio from the uncharted composition space to the material.

To analyze the potential of HEMs and design new materials for this class, a new research group was founded at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE) led by Dr. Liuliu Han: “Over the past centuries, alloy design was constrained by using one or two prevalent base elements. My group will now investigate the huge compositional space offered through HEMs by combining advanced design strategies and experimental techniques.” The group will merge advanced characterization techniques such as atom probe tomography with artificial intelligence approaches such as text mining.

Han and his team will focus on combining properties like strength and ductility, and on developing HEMs for harsh environments or multifunctional materials. A special focus will also lie on sustainability, recyclability and durability aspects, which are for example interesting for high-performance magnets in electric vehicles or wind turbines.

The research group is funded by the European Innovation Council.

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