• High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are increasingly designed by thermodynamics, balancing enthalpy and entropy to predict phase stability and potential decomposition pathways across compositions [1], [6], [11], [19], [20].

• High-entropy alloys (HEAs) leverage microstructure engineering—dual-phase architectures, twinning-induced plasticity, precipitation hardening, and severe plastic deformation—to overcome strength-ductility trade-offs across systems [3], [9], [12], [15], [16].

• Kinetic control, including sluggish diffusion, phase decomposition, and thermomechanical processing, governs HEA stability and performance, linking time, temperature, and microstructure evolution [2], [4], [11], [18].

• Elemental tuning, especially Al-containing multi-component systems like AlCoCrCuFeNi, reveals how composition spaces shape phase formation and mechanical performance, through specific Al effects and alloying trends [5], [7], [13], [20].

• Entropy serves as a unifying idea across disciplines, from mathematical entropy and geometry to quantum information and black-hole thermodynamics, highlighting entropy production, entanglement entropy, and quantum entropy as foundational concepts [8], [10], [14].