Plastic deformation in an Al–Cu–Fe icosahedral alloy

Al—Cu—Fe quasicrystalline alloys have been deformed by high-temperature creep between 680 and 740 °C. Deformations greater than 30% were achieved without cracking. Analysis of the data in the quasi-steady state regime reveals power law behavior with a stress exponent of 2.5. The activation energy for deformation was determined to be 640 ± 20 kJ/mole in the temperature region investigated. Transmission electron microscopy revealed lamellar defects which appear similar to twins.