The high temperature equilibrium β phase in Cu-based alloys has a disordexed bcc structure. Its stability at high temperatures is due to the large amplitude ﹛0 ζ ζ)﹜ <0 ζ ζ> soft mode which provides a large vibrational entropy. This stability decreases with temperature as the entropy term in the Gibbs free energy becomes smaller. However, by quenching it is possible to retain the β phase avoiding decomposition by diffusion controlled transformations. in ternary β phase Cu-Zn- Al alloys, ion irradiation at room temperature has been reported to induce a phase transformation to a close packed structure or to produce γ phase precipitates. in order to further study the tendency of the β phase to decompose into other phases at room temperature, ion irradiation experiments in binary Cu-Zn single crystals were carried out using a beam of 30 keV Ar ions. The changes in the microstructure were examined using transmission electron microscopy.