No Arabic abstract
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to provide a detailed understanding of the functional degradation of shape memory alloys at small scale. The origin of the experimentally reported accumulation of plastic deformation and the anomalous sudden increase of the residual strain under cyclic mechanical loading are explained by detailed insights into the relevant atomic scale processes. Our work reveals that the mechanical response of shape-memory-alloy pillars under cyclic compression is significantly influenced by the presence of an amorphous-like surface region as experimentally induced by focused ion beam milling. The main factor responsible for the observed degradation of superelasticity under cyclic loading is the accumulated plastic deformation and the resultant retained martensite originating from a synergetic contribution of the amorphous and crystalline shape-memory-alloy regions. We show that the reported sudden diminishment of the stress plateaus and hysteresis under cyclic loading is caused by the increased stability of the martensite phase due to the presence of the amorphous phase. Based on the identified mechanism responsible for the degradation, we validate reported methods of recovering the superelasticity and propose a new method to prohibit the synergetic contribution of the amorphous and crystalline regions, such as to achieve a sustainable operation of shape memory alloys at small scale.
We study the branching of twins appearing in shape memory alloys at the interface between austenite and martensite. In the framework of three-dimensional non-linear elasticity theory, we propose an explicit, low-energy construction of the branched microstructure, generally applicable to any shape memory material without restrictions on the symmetry class of martensite or on the geometric parameters of the interface. We show that the suggested construction follows the expected energy scaling law, i.e., that (for the surface energy of the twins being sufficiently small) the branching leads to energy reduction. Furthermore, the construction can be modified to capture different features of experimentally observed microstructures without violating this scaling law. By using a numerical procedure, we demonstrate that the proposed construction is able to predict realistically the twin width and the number of branching generations in a Cu-Al-Ni single crystal.
Dislocation velocities and mobilities are studied by Molecular Dynamics simulations for edge and screw dislocations in pure aluminum and nickel, and edge dislocations in Al-2.5%Mg and Al-5.0%Mg random substitutional alloys using EAM potentials. In the pure materials, the velocities of all dislocations are close to linear with the ratio of (applied stress)/(temperature) at low velocities, consistent with phonon drag models and quantitative agreement with experiment is obtained for the mobility in Al. At higher velocities, different behavior is observed. The edge dislocation velocity remains dependent solely on (applied stress)/(temperature) up to approximately 1.0 MPa/K, and approaches a plateau velocity that is lower than the smallest forbidden speed predicted by continuum models. In contrast, above a velocity around half of the smallest continuum wave speed, the screw dislocation damping has a contribution dependent solely on stress with a functional form close to that predicted by a radiation damping model of Eshelby. At the highest applied stresses, there are several regimes of nearly constant (transonic or supersonic) velocity separated by velocity gaps in the vicinity of forbidden velocities; various modes of dislocation disintegration and destabilization were also encountered in this regime. In the alloy systems, there is a temperature- and concentration-dependent pinning regime where the velocity drops sharply below the pure metal velocity. Above the pinning regime but at moderate stresses, the velocity is again linear in (applied stress)/(temperature) but with a lower mobility than in the pure metal.
Using a variety of thermodynamic measurements made in magnetic fields, we show evidence that the diffusionless transition (DT) in many shape-memory alloys is related to significant changes in the electronic structure. We investigate three alloys that show the shape-memory effect (In-24 at.% Tl, AuZn, and U-26 at.% Nb). We observe that the DT is significantly altered in these alloys by the application of a magnetic field. Specifically, the DT in InTl-24 at.% shows a decrease in the DT temperature with increasing magnetic field. Further investigations of AuZn were performed using an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique in magnetic fields up to 45 T. Quantum oscillations in the speed of the longitudinal sound waves propagating in the [110] direction indicated a strong acoustic de Haas-van Alphen-type effect and give information about part of the Fermi surface.
This paper compares two approaches for investigating the near-surface composition profile that results from surface segregation in the so-called Cantor alloy, an equi-molar alloy of CoCrFeMnNi. One approach consists of atomistic computer simulations by a combination of Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics and molecular statics techniques, and the other is a nearest neighbor analytical calculation performed in the regular solution approximation with a multilayer model, developed here for the first time for a N-component system and tested for the 5-component Cantor alloy. This type of comparison is useful because a typical computer simulation requires the use of ~100 parallel processors for 2 to 3 hours, whereas a similar calculation by means of the analytical model can be performed in a few seconds on a laptop machine. The results obtained show qualitatively good agreement between the two approaches. Thus, while the results of the computer simulations are presumably more reliable, and provide an atomic scale picture, if massive computations are required, for example, in order to optimize the composition of a multicomponent alloy, then an initial screening of the composition space by the analytical model could provide a highly useful means of narrowing the regions of interest, in the same way that the CALPHAD method allows rapid investigation of phase diagrams in complex multinary systems.
We have studied the effect of Fe addition on the structural and magnetic transitions in the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni-Mn-Ga by substituting systematically each atomic species by Fe. Calorimetric and AC susceptibility measurements have been carried out in order to study the magnetic and structural transformation properties. We find that the addition of Fe modifies the structural and magnetic transformation temperatures. Magnetic transition temperatures are displaced to higher values when Fe is substituted into Ni-Mn-Ga, while martensitic and premartensitic transformation temperatures shift to lower values. Moreover, it has been found that the electron per atom concentration essentially governs the phase stability in the quaternary system. However, the observed scaling of transition temperatures with $e/a$ differs from that reported in the related ternary system Ni-Mn-Ga.