Viscosity, undercoolability and short-range order in quasicrystal-forming Al-Cu-Fe melts

Understanding the mechanisms which relate properties of liquid and solid phases is crucial for fabricating new advanced solid materials, such as glasses, quasicrystals and high-entropy alloys. Here we address this issue for Al-Cu-Fe alloys which can serve as a model for studying microscopic mechanisms of quasicrystal formation. We study experimentally two structural-sensitive properties of the liquid – viscosity and undercoolability – and...