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Formation and stability of complex metallic phases including quasicrystals explored through combinatorial methods
Witor Wolf1,2, Sebastian A Kube3, Sungwoo Sohn3
1Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rod. Washington Luiz, Km 235, São Carlos, SP, 13565-905, Brazil. witorw@demet.ufmg.br.
Scientific Reports
|May 11, 2019
Summary
This study reveals that aluminum-copper-iron-chromium alloys form quasicrystals over a broad composition range. Combinatorial methods efficiently identify these complex metallic phases and their formation behavior.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Solid State Physics
- Crystallography
Background:
- Aluminum-based quasicrystals are difficult to fabricate due to narrow composition ranges.
- Efficient methods are needed to explore alloy systems for quasicrystal formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate wide compositional ranges of Al-Cu-Fe and Al-Cu-Fe-Cr alloys for quasicrystal formation.
- To understand the phase formation, thermal stability, and nucleation behavior of quasicrystals and related phases.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of alloy libraries using magnetron co-sputtering.
- Automated energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy for composition analysis.
- Automated X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy for phase identification and thermal stability analysis.
Main Results:
- Identified compositional regions for quasicrystalline phase formation in Al-Cu-Fe and Al-Cu-Fe-Cr systems.
- Demonstrated an unusually broad composition range for quasicrystals in the Al-Cu-Fe-Cr system.
- Observed vitrification during sputtering and studied nucleation behavior, finding higher nucleation rates for polytetrahedral phases.
Conclusions:
- Combinatorial approaches are powerful for identifying quasicrystal compositional regions.
- Polytetrahedral phases exhibit distinct nucleation and growth kinetics compared to other phases.
- The findings expand the understanding of quasicrystal formation and processing.
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