How did melt spinning help produce Dan Shechtman’s first quasicrystal alloy?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

quasicrystal Figure 1: Hexagonal lattice of atomic sites.

To produce his first quasicrystal alloy, Dan Shechtman utilized melt spinning to achieve rapid solidification of the material.1

In this process, Shechtman and his colleagues mixed aluminum and manganese in a roughly six-to-one proportion and heated the mixture until it reached a molten state. The liquid alloy was then dropped onto a cold spinning wheel, which caused the mixture to cool and solidify almost instantaneously. This rapid cooling was essential for creating the unique, aperiodic atomic structure that exhibited fivefold symmetry—a configuration that was previously considered impossible in crystals.21