Mechanical property of quasicrystals

[Timney]

Are there anybody doing some research on quasicrystals ,especially its mechanical property?
I am just wondering why so few people are working on it,because intuitively I think quasicrystals will have a bright future.

So what do you think of quasicrystals? Is it worthy of research?
I want to start a project on its mechanical property,and i will appreciate if you could give me some suggestions.

 

[Astronuc]

It seems that there is a lot of research on quasicrystalline materials, including thermal and mechanical properties.

http://euler.phys.cmu.edu/widom/research/qc/quasi.html

Widespread commercialization of quasicrystals awaits discovery of uses for these materials which display unusual hardness and brittleness, low coefficients of friction, and high thermal and electrical resistance. Some proposed applications include wear-resistant surface treatments for other metals in ball bearings and frying pans.
. . . .

What are Quasicrystals, and What Makes Them Nobel-Worthy?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/quasicrystals-win-chemistry-nobel.html

The 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to an Israeli scientist named Dan Shechtman who discovered a type of crystal so strange and unusual that it upset the prevailing views on the atomic structure of matter, leading to a paradigm shift in chemistry.

http://wwwphy.princeton.edu/~steinh/quasicrystals.html

http://www.physics.emory.edu/~weeks/pics/icon.html

There's probably many more pages.

 

[Timney]

Thanks a lot:)
i have googled as well,but i find that distinct properties of quasicrystals are mainly focused on its low frictional coefficient,which can be applied in frying pans and bearings .
so i decide to do something about that,but is it so difficult for an undergraduate since i have no idea about group theory??