Growth of a single Al64Cu23Fe13 icosahedral quasicrystal using the Czochralski method and annealing removal of strains

Phase relations between the liquid and the solid icosahedral (I-) phases were examined at different temperatures to determine the growth condition of a single Al-Cu-Fe I-quasicrystal using the Czochralski method. The composition of the single I-quasicrystal was chosen to be Al 64 Cu 23 Fe 13 due to the superior thermal stability. We found that the liquid composition, which equilibrates to the Al 64 Cu 23 Fe 13 I-phase at 1073 K, was Al 57.7 Cu 37.7 Fe 3.5 Si 1.1 . Based on the phase relation, production of a single Al 64 Cu 23 Fe 13 I-quasicrystal was attempted by using the Czochralski method. As a result, we succeeded in the growth of a single Al 64 Cu 23 Fe 13 I-quasicrystal, and we also measured the Vickers hardness of annealed single I-quasicrystal samples with different anneal times to estimate the structural improvement by annealing.