Characterization of microscopic deformation in Cu-Al-Mn superelastic alloy by in situ Laue diffraction study using white X-ray microbeam

In this study, in situ white X-ray microbeam diffraction experiments were conducted to investigate the microscopic deformation behavior of a Cu-Al-Mn superelastic alloy during tensile testing. Local deformation both at a grain scale and an intragranular scale was revealed by analyzing Laue spot streaking that occurred within a grain and in some grains with different orientations. The streaking measured within a grain under tensile load showed inhomogeneous behavior because of an inhomogeneous martensitic transformation. Moreover, the effect was dependent on grain orientation. In a grain with a high Schmid factor, a large dispersion in the 2θ diffraction angle of Laue spots was observed due to significant Laue spot streaking, which can be attributed to that grain's favored martensitic transformation.