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In Situ TEM Nanoindentation Studies on Stress-Induced Phase Transformations in Metallic Materials

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Abstract

Although abundant phase transformations are in general thermally driven processes, there are many examples wherein stresses can induce phase transformations. Numerous in situ techniques, such as in situ x-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction, have been applied to reveal phase transformations. Recently, an in situ nanoindentation technique coupled with transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the capability to directly correlating stresses with phase transformations and microstructural evolutions at a submicron length scale. Here we briefly review in situ studies on stress-induced diffusional and diffusionless phase transformations in amorphous CuZrAl alloy and NiFeGa shape memory alloy. In the amorphous CuZrAl, in situ nanoindentation studies show that the nucleation of nanocrystals (a diffusional process) occurs at ultra-low stresses manifested by a prominent stress drop. In the NiFeGa shape memory alloy, two distinctive types of martensitic (diffusionless) phase transformations accompanied by stress plateaus are observed, including a reversible gradual phase transformation at low stress levels, and an irreversible abrupt phase transition at higher stress levels.

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Acknowledgements

X.Z. and Y.L. acknowledge financial support from NSF-CMMI under Grants 1129065 and 1161978. H.W. acknowledges support from the Office of Naval Research (under Dr. Lawrence Kabacoff and Dr. Antti Makinen, Grant N000141310555). The authors thank I. Karaman and J.Z. Jiang for fruitful discussion and materials synthesis. Access to the DOE-Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) at Los Alamos and Sandia National laboratories and the use of microscopes at the Microscopy and Imaging Center at Texas A&M University are also acknowledged.

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  1. Y. Liu

    Present address: Materials Science and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Y. Liu, H. Wang & X. Zhang

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    H. Wang

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    X. Zhang

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Liu, Y., Wang, H. & Zhang, X. In Situ TEM Nanoindentation Studies on Stress-Induced Phase Transformations in Metallic Materials. JOM 68, 226–234 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-015-1707-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-015-1707-y

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