Recent progress in the development of materials

•Advanced steels and hard magnets, new Fe superconductors display enhanced capability.•Bulk metallic glasses, high entropy alloys are two recent multicomponent materials.•TMCP and nano-phases aid simultaneous improvement in strength and toughness.•Energy efficient materials processing is key to progressing eco-friendly materials.•ICME, materials genome are the new drivers of materials development.

Progress in materials research and development during the recent times has been phenomenal. The article aims at presenting a perspective on the noticeable trends in the following aspects: (a) extending the limits of capability of selected structural and functional materials, (b) resorting to multicomponent compositions, (c) exploiting the benefits of fine-scale microstructure and (d) employing extreme temperature, pressure and strain rate for materials processing. Recent developments in energy efficient materials processing and integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) have also been outlined.