DETERMINATION OF LATTICE-PARAMETERS, DIFFRACTING CRYSTALLITE SIZE, AND THERMAL-STABILITY IN MECHANICALLY ALLOYED CU-ZN SOLID-SOLUTIONS

Four copper-zinc (Cu-Zn) alloy powders are produced by mechanical allo ying to investigate the effects of zinc composition on the lattice par ameter, diffracting crystallite size (DCS), and thermal stability, The DCS versus either milling time or composition data indicates that the substitutional zinc solutes alter the dislocation generation, organiz ation, and recovery processes, Lattice parameter determinations agree well with published values at small compositions, but are slightly les s than the expected values for larger compositions, Annealing the powd ers at 823 and 1023 K for 6 h resulted in a substantial decrease of ro ot-mean-square (rms) atomic-level strain and slight increases in the l attice parameters. In spite of the high annealing temperatures, the DC S remains less than 30 nm for all compositions, Furthermore, this high degree of thermal stability was inversely related to the concentratio n of zinc in the alloy.