

Preprint 81/2003
Symmetry and reversibility of martensitic transformations
Kaushik Bhattacharya, Sergio Conti, Giovanni Zanzotto, and Johannes Zimmer
Contact the author: Please use for correspondence this email.
Submission date: 03. Sep. 2003
published in: Nature, 428 (2004) 6978, p. 55-59
DOI number (of the published article): 10.1038/nature02378
Bibtex
with the following different title: Crystal symmetry and the reversibility of Martensitic transformations
Abstract:
Martensitic phase transformations observed in many crystalline
solids are of interest for a variety of technological and scientific
reasons. They come in two widely different classes. In steels, the
transformation microstructure induced by quenching (fast cooling)
remains essentially unchanged upon
subsequent loading or heating. The transformation is not
reversible. In shape-memory alloys, on the contrary, the
microstructures formed on cooling are easily manipulated by loads and
disappear upon reheating. The transformation is reversible or
`thermoelastic'. This paper provides a simple explanation for this
difference on the basis of crystal symmetry.