Structural Defects and Changes in Al-Pd-Fe Crystalline Approximant
Crystalline approximants structurally related to decagonal quasicrystal in the as-cast and heat-treated Al75Pd15Fe10 alloys and defect structures in them have been studied by means of high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). Structural defects of linear and planar types were found to exist extensively in the orthorhombic ε16-phase formed in the as-cast Al75Pd15Fe10 alloy. In contrast with the distribution and configuration of the defects in the as-cast ε16-phase, we found that high-temperature heat treatment promotes the formation of a kind of regular network of structural defects in the ε16-phase. This suggests that rearrangements of atom clusters and as well as defects occurred due to the heat treatment. The relationship between the distribution of atom clusters and the configuration of defects will be discussed.