Systematic study of the martensitic transformation in a Cu-Zn-Al alloy. Reversibility versus irreversibility via acoustic emission

Abstract The reproducibility and instability of thermal cycling in a restricted temperature domain within the range of the martensitic transformation in a Cu-Zn-Al alloy (68.5:14.9:16.6 at%) have been studied by means of the acoustic emission (AE) technique. The results indicate reproducibility of the AE bursts produced during the cooling and heating processes and the intrinsic instability related to small thermal perturbations which overlap on cycling.