Shear experiments under confining pressure conditions of Al–Pd–Mn single quasicrystals

Icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn quasicrystalline alloys are known to be extremely brittle at low and intermediate temperatures when deformed with conventional tests. Using specific deformation conditions, such as high confining pressure techniques, allowed plastic deformation of this non-periodic structure at temperatures in the brittle domain. Surprisingly, low temperature deformation microstructures revealed the presence of dislocations, whose motion essentially implicates climb mechanisms. The aim of this study is to use a shear experiment technique, specially designed to favour glide processes, in order to check if glide may occur solely, without any climb component. The results confirm the difficulty to promote pure glide processes and support the idea that both glide and climb are activated.