Phase Transformations and Ageing Phenomena in Copper-Nickel-Manganese Alloys

The pseudo-binary alloy system extending between copper and the intermetallic NiMn was first shown by Dean et al. [1,2] to yield a series of age hardenable alloys. The alloy containing 20% each of Ni and Mn has the best combination of strength and toughness and has been the subject of more recent studies [3,4]. The phase transformation associated with ageing in quenched Cu-NiMn alloys is precipitation of the ordered tetragonal (Llo) phase, (⊖) based on NiMn, from an fcc solid solution. Generally three modes of transformation occur depending on composition and temperature. An intragranular precipitate of fine coherent particles of ⊖, or a cellular or discontinuous precipitation reaction emanating from the grain boundaries, or heterogeneous precipitation of ⊖ at the grain boundaries.