Evolution of the microstructure, electrical resistivity and microhardness during atomic ordering of cryogenically deformed Cu-47at.%Pd alloy

The kinetics of the A1→B2 phase transition in the cryogenically deformed Cu-47at.%Pd alloy has been compared with that both after room-temperature deformation and after quenching from high temperature. For this aim, the evolution of the microstructure, electrical properties and microhardness of the alloy during disorder→order transformation at 400 °C were studied. It was shown that annealing at 400 °C for 1 h led to the formation of a uniform ultrafine-grained ordered structure in the cryo-deformed alloy. In turn, the annealing duration of 1 h is not enough to finish the ordering process in the quenched sample. It was found that some volume of the ordered B2-phase was formed in the cryo-deformed Cu-47at.% Pd alloy after holding at room temperature for 0.5 year. [Display omitted] •The evolution of the microstructure and properties of the cryo-deformed Cu-47at.%Pd were studied upon annealing at 400 °C.•Ordering kinetics in the cryo-deformed Cu-47at.%Pd alloy was compared with that in the samples disordered by convention ways.•Ultrafine-grained ordered structure with high strength and low electrical resistivity was formed in the Cu-47at.%Pd alloy.•Slow atomic ordering process was discovered in the cryo-deformed Cu-47at.%Pd alloy during its holding at room temperature.