Study of the order–disorder transition and martensitic transformation in a Cu–Al–Be alloy by EELS

Changes in 3d states occupancy associated with order–disorder transition and martensitic transformation in a Cu–Al–Be alloy was investigated by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in both high energy and low energy loss regions. From the high energy loss region, the Cu L_2,3 white-line intensities, which reflect the unoccupied density of states in 3d bands, was measured for three states of the alloy: disordered austenite, ordered austenite and martensite. It was found that the white-line intensity remains the same during order–disorder transition but appears slightly smaller in martensite, indicating that some electrons left Cu 3d bands or some hybridization took place during phase transformation. From the low energy loss region, the optical joint density of states (OJDS) was obtained by Kramers–Kronig analysis. As maxima observed in the OJDS spectra are assigned to interband transitions, these spectra can be used to probe changes in the electronic band structure. The analysis shows that during the martensitic transformation, the peaks positions and relative intensities in the OJDS spectra undergoes noticeable changes, which are associated with interband transitions.