In situ neutron diffraction study of the plastic deformation mechanisms of B2 ordered intermetallic alloys: NiAl, CuZn, and CeAg

The internal stress developments of B2 compounds NiAl, CuZn, and CeAg are examined using in situ neutron diffraction. CeAg is a representative of a newly discovered class of fully ordered and ductile B2 compounds. Using polycrystal plasticity modeling to interpret the results, it is revealed that the internal stress evolution of CeAg is nearly identical to that of NiAl, indicating that they share a common primary mechanism of plastic deformation, i.e., <1 0 0>{0 1 1} “cube” slip. This result reinforces the dilemma previously observed for rare-earth alloys CuY, AgY, and CuDy, since cube slip provides insufficient independent slip systems to accommodate large-scale homogenous polycrystalline deformation. There is no evidence in the diffraction data of either mechanical twinning or stress-induced phase transformation. The activity of bcc-type <1 1 1>{11¯0} slip at high stresses is confirmed and a lower bound for the critical resolved shear stress is quantified.