Production and characterization of single quasicrystals of the Al-Pd-Mn icosahedral phase

Abstract

Large single quasicrystals of the icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn phase have been grown using the Czochralski technique. Different experimental conditions which favour the growth of a large single grain have been tried. The best single grain obtained is 3 cm³ in volume and has an overall mosaic spread of 0.06°, revealing the high quality of the sample. This represents an increase in volume of one order of magnitude, together with a decrease in the mosaic spread of the same amount when compared with our previous results using the Bridgman technique. The quasicrystallinity of the samples has been checked by various methods.