Influence of initial heating temperature on the reverse martensitic transformation of Cu–Zn–Al–Mn–Ni alloy

The influence of initial heating temperature on reverse martensitic transformation of Cu–Zn–Al–Mn–Ni alloy was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. An exothermic X→M transition occurs just before the reverse martensitic transformation upon heating from 233 K to parent phase, and thus results in the decrease of start temperature of reverse martensitic transformation. X-Ray diffraction analysis indicates that X-phase has the similar structure to the martensite, which is the reason why the X→M transition only releases less energy upon heating.