Dislocations Help Initiate the α–γ Phase Transformation in Iron—An Atomistic Study

Phase Transition in Iron Thin Films Containing Coherent Twin Boundaries: A Molecular Dynamics Approach

Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, the austenitic and martensitic phase transitions in pure iron (Fe) thin films containing coherent twin boundaries (TBs) have been studied. Twelve thin films with various crystalline structures, thicknesses and TB fractions were investigated to study the roles of the free surface and TB in the phase transition. In the austenitic phase transition, the new phase nucleates mainly at the (112)_bcc TB in the thicker films. The (111¯)_bcc free surface only attends to the nucleation, when the film is extremely thin. The austenitic transition temperature shows weak dependence on the film thickness in thicker films, while an obvious transition temperature decrease is found in a thinner film. TB fraction has only slight influence on the austenitic temperature. In the martensitic phase transition, both the (1¯10)_fcc free surface and (111)_fcc TB attribute to the new body-center-cubic (bcc) phase nucleation. The martensitic transition temperature increases with decreased film thickness and TB fraction does not influent the transition temperature. In addition, the transition pathways were analyzed. The austenitic transition obeys the Burgers pathway while both the Kurdjumov–Sachs (K–S) and Nishiyama–Wassermann (N–W) relationship are observed in the martensitic phase transition. This work may help to understand the mechanism of phase transition in the Fe nanoscaled system containing a pre-existing defect.

Atomistic Simulation of the Strain Driven Phase Transition in Pure Iron Thin Films Containing Twin Boundaries

Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, the strain-induced phase transitions in pure body-centered-cubic (bcc) iron (Fe) thin films containing twin boundaries (TBs) with different TB fractions and orientations are studied. Two groups of bcc thin films with different TB-surface orientation relationships are designed. In film group 1, the (112) [ 11 1 ¯ ] TBs are perpendicular to the ( 11 1 ¯ ) free surfaces, while the (112) [ 11 1 ¯ ] TBs are parallel to the free surfaces in film group 2. We vary the TB numbers inserted into the films to study the effect of TB fraction on the phase transition. Biaxial strains are applied to the films to induce the bcc to close packed (cp) phase transition. The critical strain, at which the first phase transition takes place, decreases with the TB fraction increase in film group 1 with a perpendicular TB-surface orientation, while such a relationship is not observed in film group 2 with parallel TB-surface orientation. We focus on the free surface and TB as the nucleation positions of the new phase and the afterward growth. In addition, the dynamics of the phase transition is discussed. This work may help to understand the mechanism of phase transition in nanoscale or surface-dominant systems with pre-existing defects.