Precipitation of an icosahedral quasicrystal phase in Zr₇₀Pd₂₀Ni₁₀ amorphous alloy

An icosahedral quasicrystalline phase was found to precipitate as primary crystal in the melt-spun Zr₇₀Pe₂₀Ni₁₀ ternary amorphous phase with two-stage crystallization processes. The onset temperature of the transformation from amorphous to icosahedral phase is 687 K, and the decomposition of the icosahedral phase to crystalline phases takes place at 778 K, at a heating rate of 0.67 K/s. The icosahedral phase has a nearly spherical shape with a size of 5 to 20nm. The second-stage crystallization reaction results in the precipitation of Zr₂Pd and Zr₂Ni phases.