TEM observation of icosahedral, new crystalline and glassy phases in rapidly quenched Cd-Cu alloys

In the present work we studied the microstructure of the rapidly solidified Cu-Cd alloys by means of transmission electron microscopy. The purpose was to explore the possibility of the icosahedral and other metastable phase formation and the solidification of complex crystal structures under conditions of rapid freezing. TEM microstructures observed in rapidly solidified Cu-Cd alloys in the compositional range between 37.2 to 60.5 at% Cd. The formation of an icosahedral quasicrystalline phase; the existence of a tetragonal phase first identified as the Cd/sub 3/Cu/sub 4/ phase; the existence of a new Cu-Cd cubic fcc phase with a giant unit cell of a ≅ 3.25 nm, close to the Cd/sub 3/Cu/sub 4/ composition; and, formation of Cu-37.2 at% Cd metallic glass