Premartensitic microstructures in NiAl ordered β2 phase: I - Effects induced by cooling

Direct evidence for local symmetry breaking during a strain glass transition

Strain glass transition is a unique nanoscale displacive transition with local symmetry breaking while maintaining the macroscopic symmetry or average structure unchanged. It usually occurs in the "nonmartensitic" composition range of a martensitic system. So far, only indirect evidence exists for such a transition, essentially from macroscopic measurements and low-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations, and there is a lack of direct evidence for the speculated local symmetry breaking and the sluggish nature of the glass transition. In this Letter we report in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations on a Ti50(Pd41Cr9) strain glass alloy and direct evidence for these key issues. Our results show that at temperatures well above the strain glass transition temperature (Tg), the lattice is essentially an undistorted B2 structure. With approaching Tg, the local symmetry breaking gradually occurs with the formation and growth of nanomartensite clusters with a combined stacking period of three and four plane intervals, but the average structure measured by x-ray diffraction remains B2. These nanomartensite clusters become finally frozen below Tg. Our results provide not only a microscopic basis for the macroscopic properties of strain glass, but also new insights into a range of possible applications of this unique class of materials.

Electron Microscopy of Stress-Induced Martensite and Pretransition Microstructures in Ni62.5Al37.5

Static configurations of stress-induced martensite and pretransition microstructures in Ni62.5A137.5 have been studied with conventional as well as high resolution electron microscopy using single crystal TEM specimens containing defect sites of extremely high stress intensity. From images of different regions around such defects it can be concluded that the austenite lattice develops transverse displacement modulations with increasing amplitude and correlation directly related to the {110}<110> shear-plus-shuffle displacements required to form the martensite structures. Different steps in this transition sequence are presented and discussed.