HRTEM observation of β′-phase in Cu-40.26 at.% Zn alloy

There have been many reports about the bainitic phase decomposition of annealed Cu-Zn alloy. During annealing at 523 K, the hardness of this alloy increased at the early stage of annealing, although the beta-phase couldn't be observed in the matrix of beta'-phase (CsCl). The crystal structure of beta' phase, thus, was investigated by a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) to find its structural change. As the result, the striations were observed in the HRTEM image of matrix at the early stage of annealing. The selected area diffraction pattern was also obtained from this area, and it showed the extra streaks which couldn't be explained by the normal CsCl structure of the beta'-phase.