Precipitation of nano-scale icosahedral quasicrystalline phase in amorphous Hf70Ni10Pd20 alloy

An amorphous Hf70Ni10Pd20 ternary alloy was prepared and its crystallization process was studied. The crystallization proceeds through two exothermic reactions, of which the low temperature one corresponds to the precipitation of an icosahedral quasicrystalline phase. Further annealing at higher temperature leads to its decomposition to stable crystalline phases, indicating the metastable character of the initial icosahedral quasicrystalline phase. In comparison with the crystallization process of other Hf-based amorphous alloys, factors affecting the precipitation of the icosahedral quasicrystalline phase in Hf-based amorphous alloy were discussed.