The structure Friauf discovered consists of intra-penetrating icosahedra, which coordinate the Zn atoms, and 16-vertex polyhedra that coordinate the Mg atoms. The latter type of polyhedron is called a Friauf polyhedron and is, actually, an inter-penetrating tetrahedron and a 12-vertex truncated polyhedron.
MgZn2 is a member of the largest class of single intermetallic structures, since referred to as the Laves phases, the Friauf phases, or the Laves–Friauf phases.[4][5]