STRUCTURAL DETERMINATION OF A 1/1 RATIONAL APPROXIMANT TO THE ICOSAHEDRAL PHASE IN TI-CR-SI ALLOYS

We report the discovery and structural refinement of a large unit cell bcc crystalline phase in a Ti-Cr-Si alloy that is a 1/1 rational approximant to the icosahedral phase in that system. The crystal structure was determined from a Rietveld analysis of x-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. Our results demonstrate that this phase is closely related to the alpha(Al-Mn-Si) phase, which in turn, is closely related to the structure of the icosahedral phase in the Al-transition-metal alloys. The neutron data indicate that the structure contains a significant amount of oxygen located in the Mackay clusters. Partial ordering of this oxygen may provide an explanation for the localized diffuse scattering often observed in the i phase and related crystalline phases in Ti-transition-metal alloys.