Electronic structure and atomic level complexity in Al_0.5TiZrPdCuNi high-entropy alloy in glass phase

We present that high entropy alloys (HEAs), or concentrated solid solution alloys, are chemically complex metallic solid solutions in which five or more elements occupy the same crystallographic lattice sites with nearly equal compositions. The high degree of chemical disorder gives rise to considerable local lattice distortions, atomic-level stresses, and complex electronic structure, resulting in interesting properties. We calculated the electronic structure and the atomic-level stresses of Al_xTi_yZr_yPd_yCu_yNi_y, x = 0.5, y = 1 (Al_0.5TiZrPdCuNi) HEA in the glassy phase using the density functional theory (DFT) approach. We also briefly discuss the electronic structure in its crystalline phase. Whereas it has been reported recently that the crystalline phase of this HEA is obtained as a metastable phase during the crystallization of a glassy phase, the crystalline phase was found to be unstable at T = 0 in the DFT calculation. For this reason, we focus mainly on the glassy phase in this work. Lastly, the importance of charge transfer among elements on the atomic-level pressure and the role for atomic-level stresses to characterize the electronic and structural heterogeneity are discussed.