Growth behaviors of ZnO nanostructure on SMAT Cu0.62Zn0.38 during oxidation

Cu 0.62 Zn 0.38 foil was subjected to surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) processing first. Growth behavior of ZnO nanostructure on the SMAT Cu 0.62 Zn 0.38 surface during thermal oxidation was investigated in this paper. The original and SMAT Cu 0.62 Zn 0.38 foils were thermally oxidized at 400 ~ 700 °C under various gaseous environments, including nitrogen and mixture of N 2 -O 2 at a pressure of 1 atm. for 3 h. The oxidized specimens were characterized with a scanning electron microscope, an X-ray diffractometer and a transmission electron microscope. It is found that nanosheets are easily formed on the SMAT specimen surface. The favorable formation of nanosheets relates to twin lamellae structure of Cu 0.62 Zn 0.38 formed during SMAT processing.