A new stable icosahedral quasicrystal in the Cd-Mg-Dy system

A new stable icosahedral quasicrystal has been found in annealed Cd-Mg-Dy alloys. The composition of the icosahedral phase was determined to be approximately Cd₆₆Mg₂₁Dy₁₃. Powder X-ray and electron diffraction patterns revealed that the phase has a primitive icosahedral lattice with a quasilattice parameter a_R = 0.5634 nm. The electron diffraction study confirmed that the phase has a well ordered primitive icosahedral structure.