The bcc-to-9R martensitic transformation of Cu precipitates and the relaxation process of elastic strains in an Fe-Cu alloy

High-resolution electron microscopy experiments have been performed to explore the bcc-9R transformation and the subsequent elastic relaxation of Cu precipitates in an Fe-Cu alloy aged at 550°C. It was found that both electron irradiation (at an electron energy of 400 kV) and thermal annealing caused rotation of the close-packed (009) 9R planes in twinned 9R Cu precipitates. For 400 kV electron irradiation, such rotations were observed in precipitates smaller than about 12nm in diameter. For specimens cooled from the ageing temperature of 550°C to a given temperature up to −60°C, and then annealed at 400°C, the rotation of (009) 9R planes was found to occur only in precipitates above a size which depended on the temperature to which the specimen had been cooled. This critical size ranged from about 9 nm for specimens cooled to 400°C, to 4 nm for specimens cooled to −60°C. It is argued that these critical sizes are indicative of the sizes at which coherent bcc precipitates transform martensitically at different temperatures. At the ageing temperature of 550°C, the transformation to 9R takes place when precipitates reach a size of about 12nm. The number of twin segments in the transformed 9R precipitates is determined by the transformation, depending on the precipitate size. The annealing-induced plane rotations are shown to be connected with the diffusional relaxation of elastic strains, which are created upon the martensitic transformation. From the precipitate size and annealing time dependence of the rotations, it is concluded that the elastic strains relax by atomic diffusion along the interfaces between the Fe matrix and Cu precipitates. The activation energy for the interfacial diffusion is evaluated to be 1.7eV.