Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The effect of stress on spinodal decomposition in Cu-15Ni-8Sn alloy was investigated at various temperatures and stresses. As the aging temperature approached the coherent spinodal temperature about 500°C, the anisotropy among the three equivalent <100> modulations of the stress aged specimens became pronounced. The wavelength of the [001] modulation along the tensile stress axis was smaller than that of the [100] or [010] modulation perpendicular to the stress axis. TEM diffraction patterns also showed the anisotropy effect of the applied stress to the composition modulation. A theoretical model based on micromechanics concepts was employed to explain the experimental results.