DYNAMIC STUDY OF THE THERMOELASTIC TRANSFORMATION OF CU-ZN-AL SINGLE-CRYSTALS BY X-RAY-DIFFRACTION

The martensitic transformation of Cu-Zn-Al- single crystals has been f ollowed in situ and in real time by synchrotron X-ray topography. We h ave shown that at the Ms temperature, the transformation proceeds by n ucleation and growth of transformation variants associated by self-acc omodating pairs. The nucleation of these variants is triggered by the crystal substructure. When the transformation is multivariant we have displayed the development of elastic stresses, accompanying the growth of variants, inducing a reversible curvature of the lattice planes.