Edge-Aware Graph Attention Model for Structural Optimization of High Entropy Carbides

Abstract

Predicting relaxed atomic structures of chemically complex materials remains a major computational challenge, particularly for high-entropy systems where traditional first-principles methods become prohibitively expensive. We introduce the edge-aware graph attention model, a physics-informed graph neural network tailored for predicting relaxed atomic structures of high-entropy systems. the edge-aware graph attention model employs chemically and geometrically informed descriptors that capture both atomic properties and local structural environments. To effectively capture atomic interactions, our model integrates a multi-head self-attention mechanism that adaptively weighs neighbouring atoms using both node and edge features. This edge-aware attention framework learn complex chemical and structural relationships independent of global orientation or position. We trained and evaluated the edge-aware GAT model on a dataset of carbide systems, spanning binary to high-entropy carbide compositions, and demonstrated its accuracy, convergence efficiency, and transferability. The architecture is lightweight, with a very low computational footprint, making it highly suitable for large-scale materials screening. By providing invariance to rigid-body transformations and leveraging domain-informed attention mechanisms, our model delivers a fast, scalable, and cost-effective alternative to DFT, enabling accelerated discovery and screening of entropy-stabilised materials.