Martensitic transformations macroscopic shape change

Fig. 2. The shape-memory process, where Tis temperature, (a) The cycle where the parent phase undergoes a self-accommodating martensite transformation on cooling to the 24 variants of martensite. No macroscopic shape change occurs. The variants coalesce under stress to a single martensite variant, resulting in deformation. Then, upon heating, they revert back to the original austenite crystallographic orientation, and reverse transformation, undergoing complete recovery to complete the cycle, (b) Shape deformation. Strain recovery is typically ca 7%.

However, important differences exist. Martensite and its parent phase are different phases possessing different crystal structures and densities, whereas a twin and its parent are of the same phase and differ only in their crystal orientation. The macroscopic shape changes induced by a martensitic transformation and twinning differ as shown in Fig. 24.1. In twinning, there is no volume change and the shape change (or deformation) consists of a shear parallel to the twin plane. This deformation is classified as an invariant plane strain since the twin plane is neither distorted nor rotated and is therefore an invariant plane of the deformation. 

FIGURE 6.40 Macroscopic shape changes induced during a martensitic transformation. 

The shape-memory effect is a complex function of composition, martensite start temperature Mg, stress, strain, microstructure, texture, and aging treatment. It consists essentially of a reversible transformation strain and the associated macroscopic shape change. At low numbers of transformation cycles (e g., up to 100), the... 

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