A comparative study of the plastic behaviour of icosahedral and ξ′-Al–Pd–Mn

In the Al–Pd–Mn system, large single crystals of high structural quality can be grown of the icosahedral and the ξ′-phase. The latter is an approximant of the icosahedral phase. Though the structure of ξ′-Al–Pd–Mn is periodic, it possesses a local order which is very close to that of the icosahedral phase. In this paper, we present a comparative study of the plastic behaviour of single crystals of the icosahedral and the ξ′-phase.