Stable and metastable multicomponent alloys

This paper describes some underlying principles of stable and metastable multicomponent alloys and gives a variety of examples. Different types of muticomponent alloy and different methods for accessing multicomponent phase space are discussed. Particular examples include alloys in the CrMnFeCoNiNbGeVTi and the TiZrHfNbFeCoNiCuAgAl systems. The alloys have been manufactured by a variety of conventional and high speed solidification techniques, and their often nanoscale microstructures studied via optical, X-ray and electron microscope methods. The alloys exhibit a variety of amorphous, quasicrystalline, dendritic, eutectic and peritectic structures.