Microscopy study on interface and dynamics of microstructure in shape memory alloy

Martensitic transformation is a shear-dominant, lattice distortive and diffusionless solid-solid transformation occurring by nucleation and growth. Shape memory alloy exhibits a martensite microstructure, which is a complex pattern of martensitic domains. In this study, the character of the interfaces between the martensite domains, dynamics of the formation of the microstructure and the emergence of power-law in the domain size distribution are investigated by various recent microscopy techniques in shape memory alloys. The experimental results are analyzed in the framework of the nonlinear elasticity theory of the microstructure which was founded by Ball and James, to bridge the theory and experiment and to elucidate underlying problems to be solved.