Metallurgy of Quasicrystals: Alloys and Preparation

Abstract

Hundreds of new alloys have been observed to form quasicrystalline phases. Now it is clear that quasicrystals are not at all a rarity but in fact are quite common. Many quasicrystalline phases are metastable, but some are stable. The discoveries of stable quasicrystalline alloys have led to a breakthrough in the understanding of quasicrystalline structure and have established a new group of quasicrystalline materials. In this article, alloy systems that form quasicrystals and their preparation techniques are reviewed.