Wetting of aluminium-based complex metallic alloys

Many complex metallic alloys are known to form in aluminium-based systems containing transition metals like Cu, Pd, Fe or Cr, the most famous one being the stable icosahedral quasicrystal discovered in the Al - Cu - Fe system. Although covered by a thin native oxide layer, adhesion of water onto the complex compounds is very different from that onto the oxide or onto oxidised aluminium. We show here how this atypical behaviour is related to the structural complexity of the compound. We then produce data that allows us to estimate the actual surface energy of the same compounds, a property that is also a fingerprint of structural complexity in Al-based intermetallics.