ON ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF Al//4Mn QUASICRYSTALS IN MELT-SPUN Al-Mn ALLOYS

We present the resitivity and structural studies of the melt-spun Al-Mn alloys (with 10-18 at% Mn) that contain more than 50 vol% of the quasicrystalline (qX) Al//4Mn phase. The resistivity varies little with temperature up to approximately 600 K where it reveals structural transformations in the samples. Its magnitude is directly proportional to the overal percentage of Mn in each alloy. Simple theoretical considerations enable us to estimate the resistivity of the qX phase to be approximately 150 mu OMEGA . cm. High resitivity and high (meta)stability of quasicrystals can be understood within Friedel model of virtual bound states.