Liquid metal enabled metallurgy for high-entropy alloys

Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been recognized as a novel class of materials with significant potential in both science and technology. Conventional synthesis of HEAs often requires high-temperature and energy-intensive conditions, limiting scalability and material diversity. Liquid metal metallurgy offers an alternative route for constructing HEA systems under ambient or near-ambient conditions. In this strategy, Ga-, Bi-, and In-based liquid metal systems act as intermediate media that enable multicomponent alloying through relatively low-energy processes. Their fluidic nature supports efficient mixing and mass transport, provides a tunable reaction environment, and facilitates integration with soft matrices, thereby expanding the accessible design space and functional scope. This perspective summarizes recent progress in room-temperature liquid metals and discusses their role in enabling HEA construction via liquid metal-enabled routes. We further present a systematic blueprint covering material selection, processing strategies, and compositional design, and discuss key scientific challenges, including phase control, interfacial chemistry, and property prediction across liquid-to-solid transitions. Finally, we outline future directions, such as artificial intelligence-guided alloy discovery, interfacial reaction modeling, and emerging applications in smart materials, catalysis, and biocompatible electronics.

Keywords

High-entropy alloys / liquid metal / metallurgy / room‑temperature processing

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