The possibility of new ordering reaction in Cu-50 mass% Au alloy

Abstract

Among the large number of superlattices, there is a special group which may be classified as long period superlattices, the copper-gold system provides a classical example of such structure. Despite that historically, the copper-gold alloys containing about 25 atom percent gold were among the first investigated alloys, it still represents a subject of numerous studies. In the present work, we study all the possible phase transitions in the binary intermetallic alloy Cu3Au using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and differential dilatometry. A new important anomaly due certainly to a new ordered reaction has been detected at low temperature range by these two methods. To confirm this new reaction, we have used other techniques as high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electrical resistivity and microhardness measurements. The kinetics parameters as activation energy Eact and Avrami exponent n have also been calculated respectively by Starink and John Mehl Avrami Kolmogorov (JMAK) methods. © 2011 The Japan Institute of Metals.