Electron Microscope Study of the Crystal Structure of the Martensite in a Copper-Aluminium Alloy

Abstract

The crystal structure of β' martensite in a Cu–11.7% alloy has been studied by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. The structure has a monoclinic lattice, whose unit consists of 6 close-packed layers having a superlattice. It can also be described as an orthorhombic lattice having lattice constants of a=4.49 Å, b=5.19 Å, c=38.2 Å, (a: b: c=√3: 2: 18√\tfrac23), and consisting of 18 layers A B'C B'C A'C A'B A'B C'B C'A C'A B', where the positions of atoms in each layer (a b plane) are (A) Al:(00); Cu:(0\tfrac12), (\tfrac12\tfrac14), (\tfrac12\tfrac34), (A')=(A)+(\overrightarrow0\tfrac12), (B)=(A)+(\overrightarrow\tfrac130), (B')=(B)+(\overrightarrow0\tfrac12), (C)=(A)+(\overrightarrow\tfrac230), (C')=(C)+(\overrightarrow0\tfrac12), where (A)+(\overrightarrow\tfrac130) means that all the atoms in layer `A' are displaced by the amount of vector (\overrightarrow\tfrac130).