Plastic deformation of Al–Cu–Fe quasicrystals embedded in Al2Cu at low temperatures

Al–Cu–Fe icosahedral quasicrystals are known to be hardly deformable at temperatures lower than 0.8Tm. The microstructures of the quasicrystals deformed at such temperatures have not been examined in details. Although the quasicrystals are brittle at low temperature, there is a possibility that they can be deformed if they are protected by other ductile materials. In this study, a few methods are proposed to deform an Al–Cu–Fe quasicrystal. The purpose of this study is to reveal the deformation mechanism at low temperatures and compare the results with those reported for deformation at high temperature.