Solid State Phenomena Vols. 172-174

Abstract: The increased use of metallic biomaterials in contact with blood e.g. for application as coronary stents is steadily resulting in the development of new biomaterials. Conventional bare-metal stents made by stainless steel were reported on adverse reactions against human body and are gradually replaced by coated stainless steel. The new generation of stent requires fundamental improvements at the materials point of view. Although titanium and classical Ti-alloys display superior biocompatibility compared to other metallic materials (stainless steels, Co-Cr), the major drawback of their relatively low ductility (typically 15%-25% of elongation) seriously limits their applications as cardiovascular stents, where large ductility is basically required during the stent deployment procedure and long-term service. In this paper, new titanium alloys with high ductility, a binary Ti-12Mo (wt%) and a ternary Ti-9Mo-6W (wt%) were designed by using a chemical formulation strategy based on the electronic design method called “the d-electron alloy design method”. Both alloys were synthesized and thermo-mechanically treated into beta-metastable state. In tensile tests, both alloys exhibited outstanding ductility of 43% and 46% in total elongation at room temperature, which is almost two times greater than the normal value shown with classical titanium alloys. Optical microscopy and detailed TEM observations on the deformed specimens revealed a complex deformation mechanism, involving {332}<113> mechanical twinning, stress induced plate shaped omega phase and stress induced martensitic (SIM) transformation β-α’’.

Abstract: We study spatially inhomogeneous states that occur as precursors of marten-sitic/ferroelastic transitions. We will show that cross-hatched modulations (tweed patterns)arise at temperatures above the phase transition in the limit of high elastic anisotropy or lowdisorder while a nano-cluster phase-separated state occurs at low anisotropy or high disorder.In the latter case, nanoscale inhomogeneities give rise to glassy behaviour while the structuraltransition is inhibited. Interestingly, in this case the ferroelastic system also displays a largethermo-mechanical response so that the low symmetry structure can be easily induced by theapplication of relatively small stresses within a broad temperature range.

Abstract: Different experimental procedures for the location of sources of Acoustic Emission (AE) avalanches during Martensitic Transformations are discussed. A first example corresponds to the 1D location of AE events during stress-induced martensitic transitions in a Cu-Zn-Al shape memory alloy (3.5 cm length). The obtained data allows monitoring of the interface advancement with a spatial resolution of less than 1 mm. Secondly, we discuss two different ideas that have significant potential for improving this resolution in the case of thermally induced transitions in small single crystalline samples (~1 cm): the use of elastodynamic simulations based on finite element methods and the simultaneous detection of AE and Barkhausen noise in ferromagnetic samples.

Abstract: We have investigated electron diffraction patterns of a Ti-44Ni-6Fe alloy exhibitng a negative temperature dependence in electrical resistivity below T_min = 210 K. The electron diffraction patterns taken near T_min show diffuse satellites at g_B2 + <zζ0>^* when the zone axis is [111] and [001]. For both the beam directions, the value ζ is slightly smaller than 1/3. On the other hand, the satellites are missing when the zone axis is [110]. This means that the incommensurate phase has a modulated structure with the propagation vector <zζ0>^* (ζ~1/3) and the displacement direction is one of <110> which is vertical to the propagation vector. This modulation is obviously the consequence of the phonon softening of TA₂-branch with the propagation vector near <zζ0>^* (ζ~1/3). In addition to the satellite at g_B2 + <zζ0>^* (ζ~1/3), satellites appear at g_B2+<zζ0>^* with ζ = 1/2 when the zone axis is [001] and rod-like steaks appear in <112>^* direction when the zone axis is [110]. However, these satellites and rod-like streaks do not show clear temperature dependence, suggesting they are not directly related to the phonon softening of TA₂-branch.

Abstract: Effects of transformation temperature on variant grouping tendency of bainitic ferrite in a low carbon low alloy steel transformed isothermally are investigated by means of electron backscatter diffraction analysis. Baintic variants of Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) orientation relationship belonging to the same Bain correspondence tend to form adjacently in the bainite structure formed at 823K, while the K-S variants sharing the same close-packed plane parallel relation form adjacently in the bainite structure formed at 723K and lath martensite formed by quenching.

Abstract: The perovskite (Na_1/2Bi_1/2)TiO₃ (NBT) undergoes a series of structural and polar transitions starting from the high temperature paraelectric phase: tetragonal paraelectric, tetragonal antiferroelectric, rhombohedral antiferroelectric and finally rhombohedral ferroelectric, according to neutron diffraction and dielectric spectroscopy. In solid solution with BaTiO₃ (BT) the ferroelectric phase changes from rhombohedral to tetragonal, at the so-called morphotropic phase boundary, and the phases at higher temperature become ill-defined, also because of the large lattice disorder induced by the coexistence of differently charged cations in the same sublattice. Combined dielectric and anelastic spectroscopy measurements are presented, which clarify some issues related to the phase transitions in NBT-BT. The influence of Ba substitution on the tetragonal antiferroelectric phase is determined for the first time, and the possibility that a monoclinic phase, although with very short coherence length, exists near the morphotropic phase boundary is discussed in view of a large maximum of the elastic compliance.

Abstract: This work investigates what phase transformations are taking place during a continuous heating as well as the influence of the solution temperature on the isothermal formation of martensite in a precipitation hardening semi-austenitic stainless steel. In previous studies in the stainless steel under investigation (12Cr-9Ni-4Mo-2Cu) only the isothermal mode of martensitic transformation has been experimentally detected. In this work it is shown that: 1) The A_F temperature is located around 1040 K; 2) The χ-phase present in the initial microstructure dissolves above ~1323 K; 3) above 1448 K the formation of delta ferrite is promoted at austenite grain boundaries; 4) the kinetics of isothermal martensite formation is strongly accelerated with increasing solution temperature. The kinetics has been monitored in-situ at room temperature by using high resolution dilatometry. A semi-empirical dilatometry model is used to convert the dilatometry signal into volume fraction of martensite transformed. The results are briefly compared with previous kinetic measurements under the influence of strong magnetic fields.

Abstract: At different temperatures ranging from ‑60°C to 200°C a cast CrMnNi-TRIP steel was deformed by uniaxial tension. The resulting microstructure was investigated using XRD, EBSD and LOM. The correlation of the phase transformation with the deformation temperature was examined. Depending on temperature, a transition in the deformation mechanisms was observed. Starting with the generation of deformation bands, accompanied by martensitic phase transformation, followed by twinning, the deformation mechanism turned to conventional dislocation glide with raising temperature. Between -60°C and 20°C the TRIP (TRansformation Induced Plasticity)-effect is the dominating deformation mechanism, whereas between 20°C and 200°C the TWIP (Twinning induced plasticity) effect is observed. The geometrical arrangement of martensite within the microstructure is considered within this study. The amount of α'-martensite is mainly responsible for the hardening rate and the resulting mechanical properties.

Abstract: This work presents the texture evolution of the austenitic phase of a copper based shape memory alloy by neutron diffraction. The Cu-11%Al-0.62%Be (in mass %) alloy was subjected to cold and hot rolling processes. The texture of the rolled samples at reduction rates of 5%, 10% and 15% respectively were compared to those of the raw material. A <001> partial fiber is observed for the raw material and cold rolled samples whereas the texture of the hot rolled sample is mainly characterized by a <111> fiber. The influence of these mechanical treatments on the transition temperatures and the hysteresis evolution was also analysed by following the integrated intensity of the {220} reflection of the austenitic phase. A shift towards low temperatures of martensitic transition temperatures is observed with the increasing of the rolling rate.

Abstract: The use of magnetic Barkhausen (MBN) noise methods to detect the austenite to martensite phase transformation during cooling of steel specimens was explored, using three different configurations: conventional Barkhausen noise emission stimulated by an alternating magnetic field, the Okamura method, that measures magnetic noise emission under a fixed DC field and a novel experimental technique that measures spontaneous magnetic emission during transformation, in the absence of any external field. The phenomena associated with the phase transformation were also followed by electrical resistivity measurements and the resulting samples were characterized using optical and scanning electron microscopy. MBN measurements on a AISI D2 tool steel austenitized at 1473K and cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature exhibited a clear change near 225 K during cooling, corresponding to the Ms (martensite start ) temperature, as confirmed by resistivity measurements. Spontaneous magnetic noise emission measurements made in situ during cooling of a sample immerged in liquid nitrogen showed that individual “burst” phenomena could be detected, in a manner similar to acoustic emission (AE) measurements. This magnetic emission (ME) can thus be considered a new experimental tool for the study of martensite transformations in ferrous alloys.