X-ray study of the short-range order structure in Cu–24.3 at.% Mn alloy

Abstract The diffuse X-ray scattering from a single crystal of Cu–24.3 at.% Mn aged within the fcc phase at 770 K was measured at room temperature. Diffuse peaks were found at 2 n 1 +0.2, 2 n 2 +0.2, 0 and equivalent positions ( n 1 and n 2 are integers) in reciprocal space. The Warren–Cowley short-range order parameters were derived from the separated short-range order scattering and used to generate the corresponding local atomic arrangements on a computer. The generated arrangements indicated that Mn atoms form clusters. A set of effective pair interaction energies obtained using an inverse Monte Carlo method showed that the interaction between the first nearest neighbors mainly affects the clustering of like atoms.