Formation of Superclusters from Metallic Clusters

Schmid et al. [3] reported on the possibility to build up experimentally microcrystalline modifications of metals with icosahedral clusters M„ as the basic units of the structure. We theoretically investigate two possibilities to construct such superclusters : a) a formation of shell-like superclusters, and b) a generation of superclusters from superclusters. The numerically obtained results agree very well with many experimental data of the new metallic modification. They explain the growth of superclusters by a simple analytical model. Size effects of some mechanical properties of such superclusters can be predicted
by analytical relations.