Since the discovery in 1984 by Shechtman et al. of crystals which display apparent five-fold symmetry, extensive effort has been given to establishing a theoretical basis for the existence of icosahedral phases (eg.2.). Several other investigations have been centered on explaining these observations based on twinning of cubic crystals (eg.3.). Recently, the existence of a stable, equilibrium phase T2Al6 Li3Cu) possessing an icosahedral structure has been reported in the Al-Li-Cu system(4-6).In the present study an Al-2.6wt.%Li-l.5wt.%Cu-0.lwt.%Zr alloy was heat treated at 300°C for 100hrs. to produce large T2 precipitates. Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (CBED) patterns were obtained from two-fold, three-fold, and apparent five-fold axes of T2 particles. Figure 1 shows the five-fold symmetric zero layer CBED pattern obtained from T2 particles.
The formation of an icosahedral structure with simulation of hydrogen adsorption on silica gel
