Title : Complexity in multicomponent high-entropy cantor alloys

All human advances have depended on making new materials, and all materials are alloys, i.e. mixtures of several different starting materials or components.  So the history of the human race has been the continued invention of new materials by discovering new alloys.  Recently a new way of doing this, by manufacturing multicomponent high-entropy alloys, has shown that the total number of possible materials is enormous, so we have lots of wonderful new materials yet to find.  And multicomponent phase space contains a surprisingly large number of single-phase extended solid solutions and compounds.  The first of these that was discovered are called Cantor alloys, an enormous composition range with a single-phase fcc structure, based on the original equiatomic five-component Cantor alloy CrMnFeCoNi.  This talk discusses briefly the history of alloying, the discovery of multicomponent alloys, the structure of multicomponent phase space, and the thermodynamics of multicomponent solid solutions such as the Cantor alloys.  It concentrates on the complexity of local atomic configurations in such materials, their effect on properties such as atomic diffusion, dislocation slip, recrystallisation, surface catalysis and electron transport, and the resulting outstanding mechanical properties and potential applications, including for corrosion and radiation resistance, and to enhance recycling and re-use.

Brian Cantor is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford, a Research Professor in the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology at Brunel University London, and a Chief Editor of the Springer-Nature research journal High Entropy Alloys and Materials.  He was previously Vice-Chancellor (President) of the University of York and the University of Bradford, Head of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Oxford, and a research scientist and engineer at General Electric Research Labs in the USA; he also worked briefly at Banaras Hindu University, Washington State, Northeastern University, IISc Bangalore and the Kobe Institute.  He founded and built up the World Technology Universities Network, the UK National Science Learning Centre, the Hull-York Medical School, Oxford’s Begbroke Science Park, the York Heslington East campus, the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Studies, and the UN-backed International Centre of Excellence (ICE) in Circular Materials.  He was a long-standing consultant for Alcan, NASA and Rolls-Royce; editor of Progress in Materials Science; Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering; and Trustee of the UK National Science Museum Group, Marshall Scholarship Commission, and Leeds, York and Bradford Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Boards.  He invented the field of multicomponent high-entropy alloys and discovered the so-called Cantor alloys.  He has won honours and prizes from many countries around the world.  He is a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng).

Brian Cantor is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford and a Research Professor in the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) at Brunel University.  He is also a chief editor of the new Springer-Nature journal High Entropy Alloys & Materials.  He was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of York and of Bradford University, Head of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Oxford, a research scientist and engineer at General Electric Research Labs in the USA, and worked briefly at Banaras Hindu University, Washington State, Northeastern University, IISc Bangalore and the Kobe Institute.  He founded and built up the World Technology Universities Network, the UK National Science Learning Centre, the Hull-York Medical School, and Oxford’s Begbroke Science Park.  He was a long-standing consultant for Alcan, NASA and Rolls-Royce, and chief editor of Progress in Materials Science.  He invented the new field of multicomponent high-entropy alloys and discovered the so-called Cantor alloys.  He has been awarded many scientific prizes and honorary doctorates and professorships in the UK, USA, China and India.  In 1998 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) as “a world authority on materials and manufacturing”; in 2013 he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen for “services to higher education”; and last year he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).