Evolution of a martensitic structure in a Cu-Al alloy during processing by high-pressure torsion

A Cu-11.8 wt% Al alloy was quenched in iced water from a high temperature (850 A degrees C) to introduce a martensitic phase and then the alloy was processed using quasi-constrained high-pressure torsion (HPT). The micro-hardness and the microstructures of the unprocessed and severely deformed materials were investigated using a wide range of experimental techniques (X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high- resolution TEM). During HPT, a stress-induced martensite-martensite transformation occurs and an martensite phase is formed. In the deformed material, there are nanoscale deformation bands having high densities of defects and twins in the martensite. It was observed that a high density of dislocations became pinned and accumulated in the vicinity of twin boundaries, thereby demonstrating a strong interaction between twin boundaries and dislocations during the HPT process.