Structural stability of the icosahedral AlCuFe quasicrystal under high-pressure and high-temperature

Abstract:

We report high-pressure and high-temperature in-situ X-ray diffraction study of icosahedral (i)-AlCuFe quasicrystal “icosahedrite” which is the first known naturally occurring quasicrystal mineral discovered in the Khatyrka meteorite. The i-AlCuFe quasicrystal was synthesized in laboratory from a powder mixture with an atomic ratio of Al : Cu : Fe = 65 : 20 : 15. The high-temperature and high-pressure X-ray diffraction experiments were performed using the laser-heated diamond anvil cell system installed at BL10XU, SPring-8, Japan. The i-AlCuFe showed a characteristic X-ray diffraction pattern of quasicrystal. With only compression, the diffraction patterns of the i-AlCuFe were continued until 75 GPa. At a pressure of 87 GPa two small new peaks occurred and then kept up to the maximum pressure of 104 GPa in the study. The results indicate that the pressure-induced structural phase transition of the i-AlCuFe occurs above 87 GPa, and the structure of the i-AlCuFe remains unchanged at least up to 75 GPa. Under simultaneously high pressure and high temperature, on the other hand, the i-AlCuFe was readily transformed to crystalline phase. It can be characterized by an irreversible transformation process. The structure of the i-AlCuFe is therefore more affected by thermal metamorphism than by pressure metamorphism. The present high-pressure and high-temperature experiments clearly revealed the thermal and pressure stability of the i-AlCuFe quasicrystal which may help to explain the formation of the naturally occurring quasicrystal in the solar system.