Structure and phase transformation of the Zn–Mg–rare-earth quasicrystals

We report transformations between the quasicrystalline and crystalline phases in the Zn–Mg–rare-earth (RE) alloys. Both the icosahedral and decagonal quasicrystals are shown to be formed through the crystalline compounds being not composed of giant highly symmetric atomic clusters. This suggests that the formation of Zn–Mg–RE quasicrystals can be reduced to the behavior of smaller atomic clusters which should be favorable energetically in terms of given elements and stoichiometry.