EXAFS study on solute precipitation in FeCu alloy induced by energetic electron bombardments and thermal aging

The extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurement is a useful tool for the observation of local atomic arrangements around selected atoms. We performed EXAFS measurements for the electron-irradiated and the thermally-aged Fe-0.6 wt.% Cu alloy and compared the experimental result with that of the simulation by the FEFF simulation code in order to investigate the local atomic structure around Cu atoms. Cu precipitates which were produced by the thermal aging at 773 K transformed from the bcc structure to the fcc structure as the precipitates grow large enough. However, for electron-irradiated specimens, although the hardness greatly increased, the transformation of Cu precipitates from the bcc to the fcc structure was not clearly confirmed. This result indicates that small sized Cu precipitates which had the bcc structure were produced by the electron irradiation and they could hardly coarsen during the irradiation.