Strategies for Achieving Strength-Ductility Synergy in Face-Centered Cubic High- and Medium-Entropy Alloys

High- and medium-entropy alloys (HEAs/MEAs), also called as multicomponent alloys, are a new class of materials that break through the traditional alloy design concept based on single principal element. However, they do not break away from the magic spell of strength-ductility trade-off. Therefore, designing HEAs/MEAs with both high strength and high ductility still remains a great challenge nowadays. This article provides a review on the recent progress in mechanical properties of face-centered cubic (FCC) HEAs/MEAs. First, several traditional strengthening strategies are briefly reviewed, focusing on the strengthening mechanisms and the optimized mechanical properties. Subsequently, various novel strategies for achieving strength-ductility synergy in HEAs/MEAs are summarized, which include lowering the stacking fault energy, regulating the short-range order, promoting transformation-induced plasticity, and constructing heterogeneous microstructures. The basic ideas and related underlying mechanisms from these strategies are discussed. Finally, the current challenges and the future outlooks are emphasized and addressed systematically. In brief, the present review is expected to provide a useful guide for the design of HEAs/MEAs with superior mechanical properties.