Abstract: An investigation was made of the influence of Zr additive on the high temperature phase trans- formations,martensitic forward/reverse transformations,and shape memory effect of Cu-Zn-Al base alloys by means of differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),X-ray diffraction and TEM.It was found that an addition of 0.35 wt-% Zn could effectively inhibit the precipitation of α and γ phases and hence promote the order-martensitic transformations β_2→DO_3→18RM,thus resulting in a minimum activation energy of the martensitic trans- formation and narrow temperature ranges(M_s-M_f)and(A_s-A_f);the alloy so obtained pos- sessed smooth and mobile martensite intervariant interfaces,therefore showing the best shape memory effect.

Key words: Cu-Zn-Al alloy, Zr, differential scanning calorimetry, phase transformation