Quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments were performed on Al50Cu35Ni15 with the aim of investigating whether atomic hopping motions were restricted to systems having a quasicrystalline local order. It was found that frequent jumps of Cu and Ni atoms between different interstitial lattice positions took place, on a time-scale of 1 to 100ps, in this alloy at high temperatures. This was the same time-scale which had been found previously for quasicrystals, and it was suggested that this type of motion was likely to occur in any metallic alloy at high temperatures; rather than being characteristic of quasicrystals.

Diffusive Motions in Crystalline AlCuNi by Neutron Quasielastic Scattering. W.S.Howells, U.Dahlborg, M.Calvo-Dahlborg, J.M.Dubois: Physica B, 2001, 301[1-2], 78-82