Precipitation in Zr-Based Ternary Alloys during Quenching

The crystal structure of the phase precipitated in a Zr-Cu-Al ternary alloy during quenching was investigated. The crystal structure is constructed by stacking several atomic layers periodically and is similar to that of the Laves phases. The reason why a Zr-Cu-Al alloy tends to crystallize into Laves-like periodic stacking order structure is discussed.