The Martensite Transformation in Beta Copper-aluminum Alloys

THAT metallographic structures analogous to the martensite of steel may be found in certain copper-aluminum and copper-tin alloys has been known for many years; similar structures recently were found in certain copper-zinc alloys.1 In all three of these alloy systems the martensite structures result from transformation of the metastable ß phase when the speed of cooling from the ß range is sufficiently high to suppress decomposition into equilibrium phases. ? In the normal decomposition of solid solutions into equilibrium phases, diffusion is needed to bring about the necessary changes in concentration, and the rate of reaction falls almost to zero at temperatures slightly above room temperature. The rates of reaction for martensite processes, however, are not dependent upon temperature; the transformation does not require readjustments of concentration. For example, the marten-site transformation in 60:40 (ß) copper-zinc does not begin until the temperature has dropped to about minus 30° C., and then continues down to minus 130° C. and probably even at lower temperatures.1 Further-more, martensite processes apparently proceed only while the tempera-ture is falling, within the proper range, and cease completely while the temperature is held constant; ? and they cannot be suppressed by extremely rapid cooling although the rate of cooling for some alloys may be increased to over 10,000 times the critical cooling velocity. Isaitschew, Kaminsky and Kurdjumow2 account for these observed behaviors of martensite processes by postulating that the mechanism " . . . consists in a regular rearrangement of the lattice in such a way