Fig. 1 Micrograph of a Cu-2Be sample after being homogenized

Fig. 2 XRD pattern of the homogenized CuAlBe sample. A micrograph of the sample is presented in the inset

Fig. 3 Calorimetric cycle of the sample (10 °C/min) a Representative stress-strain (σ-ε) curves for CuAlBe samples submitted to a compression test at 1 mm/min and at room temperature b

Fig. 4 P-h curves for single-phase samples of Cu, CuBe and CuAlBe at different maximum loads obtained by instrumented nanoindentation measurements. CuBe sample with precipitates (CuBe_p) is also included a. Variation of the exponent m in the loading curves with the maximum load for each alloy b

Fig. 5 Representative topographic image of a sample with pile-up obtained by AFM on a CuAlBe specimen after an indentation at 9 mN a. Surface depth profile along the line indicated in a, b. 3D image of a, c

Fig. 6 Variation of hrp/hm with the maximum load obtained from the topographic images of the indentations in the different samples: Cu, CuBe and CuAlBe single phases a and CuBe with and without precipitates b

Fig. 7 Variation of hardness with the maximum load for samples submitted to instrumented nanoindentation a and Vickers microindentation b

Fig. 8 Variation of the center line to the face angle γ1 of indentations on copper-based samples at different maximum loads

Fig. 9 Variation of the plastic strain (εpl) with the maximum load for indentations in copper-based samples. Lines are only a guide for the eyes

Fig. 10 Variation of the plastic strain a and hardness b with the depth of indentations on copper-based samples