Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T19:45:17.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thermal Conductivity of Quasicrystals and Associated Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

P. Archambault  and
C. Janot
Get access

Extract

Quasicrystals (QCs) exhibit unusual physical properties that are significantly different from those of crystalline materials and are not expected for alloys consisting of normal metallic elements. Opposite to conventional metallic alloys, their thermal conductivity and diffusivity are unusually low (with a positive temperature coefficient)—practically that of an insulator—which is atypical for materials containing about 70-at.% aluminum. Moreover the thermal conductivity decreases when the structural perfection is improved. One observes a low, if any, electronic contribution to the heat capacity and thus a vanishing density of electronic states at the Fermi level.

The origin of this unexpected behavior was first attributed to the existence of a deep pseudogap at the Fermi level with a localization tendency of electrons near the Fermi level.However experimental evidence led to an alternative approach related to the structure of quasicrystals. In QCs, well-defined atomic clusters form self-similar subsets of the structure over which electronic and vibrational states are expected to extend. According to the inflation symmetry of the icosahedral structure, the so-called recurrent localization effects may then explain the conduction behavior and other striking features of quasicrystals (e.g., brittleductile transition at high temperature, corrosion resistance, low friction, high hardness).

In the following, we first present the main thermal properties of quasicrystalline alloys compared to those of conventional materials with an emphasis on the variation of the thermal conductivity with temperature. The combination of such peculiar conduction, mechanical, and tribological properties gives the quasicrystalline alloys a technological interest for applications where superficial thermal and mechanical conditions are of prime importance. This is illustrated with two examples involving a QC coating on a base Al substrate: (1) thermal insulation for which a low conductivity is needed and (2) quenching heat-transfer modification due to a low-effusivity superficial effect. These processes are then explained in the third part of this article in terms of the cluster-modes delocalization mechanism responsible for the low conductivity of the quasicrystals.

Type
Quasicrystals
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 22 , Issue 11 , November 1997 , pp. 48 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Dubois, J.M., in New Horizons in Quasicrystals: Research and Applications, edited by Goldman, A.I., Sordelet, D.J., Thiel, P.A., and Dubois, J.M. (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997) p. 208.Google Scholar
2.Dubois, J.M., Kang, S.S., Archambault, P., and Colleret, B., J. Mater. Res. 8 (1) (1993) p. 38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Poon, S.J., Adv. Phys. 41 (1992) p. 303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Mayou, D., Berger, C., Cyrot-Lackmann, F., Klein, T., and Lanco, P., Phys. Rev. Lett. 70 (1993) p. 3915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Belin, E., Dankhazi, Z., Sadoc, A., Dubois, J.M., and Calvayrac, Y., Europhys. Lett. 26 (9) (1994) p. 677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Fujiwara, T., Yamamoto, S., and de Laissardière, G. Trambly, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71 (1993) p. 4166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Belin-Ferré, E., Fournée, V., and Dubois, J.M., in New Horizons in Quasicrystals: Research and Applications, edited by Goldman, A.I., Sordelet, D.J., Thiel, P.A., and Dubois, J.M. (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997) p. 9.Google Scholar
8.Janot, C., Phys. Rev. B 53 (1996) p. 181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Janot, C., in New Horizons in Quasicrystals: Research and Applications, edited by Goldman, A.I., Sordelet, D.J., Thiel, P.A., and Dubois, J.M. (World Scientific, Singapore, 1997) p. 240.Google Scholar
10.Archambault, P., New Horizons in Quasicrystals: Research and Applications p. 232.Google Scholar
11.Dubois, J.M., Kang, S.S., and Perrot, A., Mater. Sci. Eng. 179/180 (1994) p. 122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Perrot, A., Dubois, J.M., Cassart, M., and Issi, J.P., in Quasicrystals, edited by Janot, C. and Mosseri, R., p. 588.Google Scholar
13.Tsai, A.P., Suenaga, H., Ohmori, M., Yokoyama, Y., Inoue, A., and Masumoto, T., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 31 (1992) p. 2530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Archambault, P. and Durante, S. (unpublished).Google Scholar
15.Yokoyama, Y., Inoue, A., and Masumoto, T., Mater. Trans. JIM 34 (2) (1993) p. 135; S.S. Kang and J.M. Dubois, Philos. Mag. A66 (1) (1992) p. 151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Liscic, B., Tensi, H.M., and Luty, W., eds., Theory and Technology of Quenching (SpringerVerlag, Berlin, 1992).Google Scholar
17.Chevrier, J.C., Moreaux, F., and Beck, G., Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 5 (1972) p. 1631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Moreaux, F., Chevrier, J.C., and Beck, G., Int. J. Multiphase Flow 2 (1975) p. 183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Moreaux, F., Simon, A., and Beck, G., Heat Treating 1 (1980) p. 50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Archambault, P., Chevrier, J.C., Beck, G., and Bouvaist, J., Mater. Sci. Eng. 43 (1) (1980) p. 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Lasjaunias, J.C., Calvayrac, Y., and Hyand, N., J. Phys. Paris in press.Google Scholar
22.Inaba, A., Ishida, S., Matsuo, T., Shibata, K., and Tsai, A.P., Philos. Mag. Lett. 74 (5) (1996) p. 381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Bianchi, A.D., Bommeli, F., Chernikov, M.A., Gubler, U., Degiorgi, L., and Ott, H.R., Phys. Rev. B 55 (1997) p. 5730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Janot, C. and de Boissieu, M., Phys. Rev. Lett. 72 (1994) p. 1674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Janot, C., J. Phys. Cond. Matter 9 (1997) p. 1493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Jeong, H.C. and Steinhardt, P.J., Phys. Rev. B 55 (1997) p. 3520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Duneau, M., in Quasicrystals, edited by Janot, C. and Mosseri, R., p. 116.Google Scholar
28.Kalugin, P.A., Chernikov, M.A., Bianchi, A., and Ott, H.R., Phys. Rev. B 53 (1996) p. 14145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Nakayama, T., Yakubo, K., and Orbach, R.L., Rev. Mod. Phys. 66 (1994) p. 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar