Perfect and modulated quasicrystals in the system Al─Fe─Cu

The occurrence of a reversible phase transformation from a rhombohedral crystalline structure to a perfect quasicrystalline state of chemical composition Al63·5Fe12·5Cu24 has been studied by transmission electron microscopy. Both direct in situ heating experiments and thermal treatments of bulk dodecahedral particles have been carried out in order to characterize the various intermediate stages of this transformation and its reversibility. The …