Martensite is considered to be the backbone of the high strength of many commercial steels. Martensite is formed by a rapid diffusionless phase transformation, which has been the subject of extensive research studies for more than a century. Despite such extensive studies, martensitic transformation is still considered to be intriguing due to its complex nature. Phase-field method, a computational technique used to simulate phase transformations, could be an aid in understanding the transformation. Moreover, due to the growing interest in the field of “Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME)”, the possibilities to couple the phase-field method with other computational techniques need to be explored. In the present work a three dimensional elastoplastic phase-field model, based on the works of Khachaturyan et al. and Yamanaka et al., is developed to study the athermal and the stress-assisted martensitic transformations occurring in single crystal and polycrystalline steels. The material parameters corresponding to the carbon steels and stainless steels are considered as input data for the simulations. The input data for the simulations is acquired from computational as well as from experimental works. Thus an attempt is made to create a multi-length scale model by coupling the ab-initio method, phase-field method, CALPHAD method, as well as experimental works. The model is used to simulate the microstructure evolution as well as to study various physical concepts associated with the martensitic transformation. The simulation results depict several experimentally observed aspects associated with the martensitic transformation, such as twinned microstructure and autocatalysis. The results indicate that plastic deformation and autocatalysis play a significant role in the martensitic microstructure evolution. The results indicate that the phase-field simulations can be used as tools to study some of the physical concepts associated with martensitic transformation, e.g. embryo potency, driving forces, plastic deformation as well as some aspects of crystallography. The results obtained are in agreement with the experimental results. The effect of stress-states on the stress-assisted martensitic microstructure evolution is studied by performing different simulations under different loading conditions. The results indicate that the microstructure is significantly affected by the loading conditions. The simulations are also used to study several important aspects, such as TRIP effect and Magee effect. The model is also used to predict some of the practically important parameters such as Ms temperature as well as the volume fraction of martensite formed. The results also indicate that it is feasible to build physically based multi-length scale model to study the martensitic transformation. Finally, it is concluded that the phase-field method can be used as a qualitative aid in understanding the complex, yet intriguing, martensitic transformations. / QC 20120525 / Hero-m

Porous TiNi alloys (Ti-50.4 at. %Ni and Ti-50.6 at. %Ni) with porosities in the range 21%-81% were prepared successfully applying a new powder metallurgy fabrication route in which magnesium was used as space holder resulting in either single austenite phase or a mixture of austenite and martensite phases dictated by the composition of the starting prealloyed powders but entirely free from secondary brittle intermetallics, oxides, nitrides and carbonitrides. Magnesium vapor do not only prevents secondary phase formation and contamination but also provides higher temperature sintering opportunity preventing liquid phase formation at the eutectic temperature, 1118 &deg / C resulting from Ni enrichment due to oxidation. By two step sintering processing (holding the sample at 1100 &deg / C for 30 minutes and subsequently sintering at temperatures higher than the eutectic temperature, 1118 &deg / C) magnesium may allow sintering probably up to the melting point of TiNi. The processed alloys exhibited interconnected (partially or completely depending on porosity content) open macro-pores spherical in shape and irregular micro-pores in the cell walls resulting from incomplete sintering. It has been found that porosity content of the foams have no influence on the phase transformation temperatures while deformation and oxidation are severely influential. Porous TiNi alloys displayed excellent superelasticity and shape memory behavior. Space holder technique seems to be a promising method for production of porous TiNi alloys. Desired porosity level, pore shape and accordingly mechanical properties were found to be easily adjustable.

Effect of stress-assisted aging on stress induced martensitic transformation in hot-rolled Ni-rich 50.7at. Ni%-Ti alloy has been investigated. Alloys are aged freely and under 20 MPa, 100 MPa, and 200 MPa stress at 400 o C for 90 minutes. Aging procedure affected both stress-induced and thermally induced transformation behavior. Superelasticity behavior is correlated with the multistep transformation in aged Ni-rich NiTi alloys and the aging stress level is found to be effective. Relative to the free aged alloy, the alloy aged under 20 MPa exhibited a slight and the alloy aged under 100 MPa exhibited a considerable reduction, whereas the alloy aged under 200 MPa exhibited an increase in the critical transformation stress. DSC studies have shown that the transformation is multistep for freely aged and aged under 20 MPa alloys, whereas it is single step and two-step for alloys aged under 100 MPa and 200 MPa, respectively, and this has been attributed to the effect of stress on nucleation and growth rates. As a result of the different response mechanisms to the applied stress upon loading during superelasticity testing, the recovered strain amounts varied considerably depending on the aging conditions and the test temperatures.

The requirement for lighter, safer and fuel efficient cars has created a major stir in the steel research society to develop advanced automotive steels. Since there is a trade off between strength and ductility, most of the conventional high strength steels do not address the strength-formability combination. With the realization of the TRIP phenomenon first in austenitic stainless steels, a new generation of advanced steels called TRIP steels were realised with an inexpensive and easier to process C-Mn-Si chemistry. TRIP or TRransformation Induced Plasticity is a phenomenon where the timely strain induced transformation of Retained Austenite (RA) to Martensite locally strengthens the steel at the point of plastic instability, causing failure by necking to be postponed and shifted elsewhere along the steel. This phenomenon repeated over and over again allows increased levels of strength and ductility, prior to fracture. / In current TRIP grades, the retained austenite particles present have to posses certain characteristics such as, optimum carbon concentration, optimum grain size and morphology etc. in order to account toward mechanical properties. Such limiting characteristics in turn minimize the processing window and make TRIP processing expensive and difficult to control. In this work, it is suggested that Tempered Martensite Assisted Steels (TMAS) obtained from TRIP steels via subcritical annealing of cold rolled TRIP steels may potentially replace TRIP steels. Relationship between the retained austenite volume fractions and mechanical properties was developed for TRIP steels. The effect of variation of retained austenite on tempered martensite volume fraction in TMAS, which in turn affect the mechanical properties was also investigated in depth. Results indicate that tempered martensite particles in TMAS do not have any limiting factors as in the case of RA in TRIP steels, in order to contribute toward enhancement of mechanical properties. Results also indicate that TMAS offers better strength levels compared to TRIP steels for same the level of formability. / Retained austenite volume fractions in TRIP steels were measured through XRD. Cold rolling of the samples was done in a laboratory scale rolling machine. The microstructures were analysed using conventional and color etching techniques. A new color etching technique for viewing all the four major phases in TRIP steel was developed in this work. The mechanical properties of both TRIP and TMAS were assessed by shear punch testing. And finally, the relationship between tempered martensite volume fraction and TMAS properties was developed and was compared to TRIP properties.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [151]-156).

Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Dr. Richard W. Neu; Committee Member: Dr. David L. McDowell; Committee Member: Dr. Itzhak Green.

Orientador: Rubens Caram Junior / Tese de Doutorado - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T19:13:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Contieri_RodrigoJose_D.pdf: 5581364 bytes, checksum: b95f94b00d984d338e4134cd12621962 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Ligas do sistema Ti-Cu com composições próximas à eutetóide exibem potencial para aplicações estruturais, pois apresentam interessantes propriedades mecânicas, baixa densidade e alta resistência à corrosão. O comportamento mecânico dessas ligas depende diretamente das condições de processamento e tratamentos térmicos aplicados. Em condições de equilíbrio, a microestrutura dessas ligas é formada pela fase ? e pelo composto intermetálico Ti2Cu. Dependendo das condições de processamento, estruturas metaestáveis podem ser formadas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de diferentes tratamentos térmicos na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas de ligas Ti-Cu. Inicialmente, amostras com composições hipoeutetóide, eutetóide e hipereutetóide foram resfriadas a partir de altas temperaturas em um dispositivo de ensaio Jominy modificado e por ensaios de "splat colling". Na sequência, ensaios de envelhecimento aplicados a amostras com microestruturas metaestáveis também foram realizados. A caracterização das amostras envolveu microscopia óptica, eletrônica de varredura e de transmissão, difração de raios-X, tomografia atômica tridimensional e ensaios mecânicos. Os resultados obtidos indicam que altas taxas de resfriamento resultam na formação de microestruturas formadas por martensita ? ' e pelo composto Ti2Cu com composições diferentes das de equilíbrio. O módulo de elasticidade não apresentou variação com a taxa de resfriamento. Resultados de envelhecimento sugerem que o máximo valor de dureza Vickers e de resistência mecânica correspondem à perda de coerência entre os precipitados do composto intermetálico Ti2Cu e a matriz de fase ? / Abstract: Alloys in the Ti-Cu system with compositions close to the eutectoid exhibit potential for structural applications because they present interesting mechanical properties, low density and high corrosion resistance. The mechanical behavior of these alloys depends directly on the processing conditions and heat treatments applied. Under equilibrium conditions, the microstructure of these alloys is formed by the ? phase and the Ti2Cu intermetallic compound. Depending on the processing conditions imposed, metastable structures may be formed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different heat treatments on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-Cu alloys. Initially, sample of hypoeutectoid, eutectoid and hypereutetoid compositions were cooled from high temperatures by in a modified Jominy test setup and by the "splat cooling technique". Following, aging heat treatments were applied to the samples with metastable microstructures. The sample's characterization included optical microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, 3-dimensional atomic tomography and mechanical testing. The results suggests that high cooling rates result in the formation of microstructures formed by martensite ? ' and the Ti2Cu compound with compositions different from the equilibrium composition. The elastic modulus does not vary with the cooling rate. Aging results suggest that the maximum values of Vickers hardness and mechanical strength correspond to the loss of coherence between the Ti2Cu intermetallic compound precipitates and the ? phase matrix / Doutorado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

Les Transformation Martensitiques (TM) sont des transitions du premier ordre entre des phases cristallines qui caractérisent une classe intéressante de matériaux intelligents, les Alliages à Mémoire de Forme (AMF). Ces alliages métalliques furent découverts dans les années 1930 environ. Ils sont surtout intéressants car ils combinent deux effets particuliers : l'effet de mémoire de forme et la pseudo-élasticité. L'effet mémoire de forme consiste à mémoriser une configuration particulière et la retrouver après des cycles thermiques ou mécaniques. La Pseudo-Elasticité consiste à rejoindre des niveaux de déformation très grands qui sont, en général, plus typiques du caoutchouc que des métaux. Dans cette thèse, nous avons traité la caractérisation des transformations martensitiques en analysant des points de vue différents. La compréhension du fonctionnement des AMFs est fondamentale pour plusieurs types d'applications industrielles. Elle constitue encore un domaine de recherche très ouvert. (...) / This thesis deals with the characterization of Martensitic Transformations (MT) that are first order phase transitions among different solid states with different crystalline structures. These transitions are at the basis of the behavior of a class of smart materials, called Shape Memory Alloys (SMA). This work combines an experimental study of a mechanically-induced martensitic transformation in a Cu-Al-Be single crystal and a macroscopic model for the reproduction of permanent effects in cyclic temperature-induced and stress-induced transitions. From the experimental point of view, the novelties are in the device that has been built and used for the test and in the full-field measurement technique at the basis of the data treatment. The especially designed gravity-based device allows for a uni-axial and uni-directional tensile test with slow loading rates. Simultaneously, the full-field measurement technique, known as grid method, provides high-resolution two-dimensional strain maps during all the transformation. With all the data collected during the test, we characterize for the first time the two-dimensional strain intermittency in a number of ways, showing heavy-tailed distributions for the strain avalanching over almost six decades of magnitude. In parallel, we develop a macroscopic mathematical model for the description of fatigue and permanent effects in several kinds of martensitic transformations. We show an easy way to calibrate the model parameters in the simple one-dimensional case. Moreover, we compare the numerical results with experimental data for different tests and specimens and obtain a good qualitative agreement.

No description available.

<p>     </p> <p>Martensitic transformation underlies the phenomena of super-elasticity within shape memory alloys and the production of advanced steels. Experimentation has demonstrated that defects and microstructural changes strongly influence this process. With simulations granting up to an atomic-level understanding of the impact that grain boundaries and precipitates have upon the solid-to-solid phase transformation. Yet the role that dislocations partake in the martensitic transformation and its microstructures remains unclear or disputed. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Therefore, we utilize large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the forward and reverse transformation of martensitic material modeled after Ni63Al37 shape via thermal cycling loading. The simulations indicate that dislocations retain martensite well above the martensite start temperature and behave as nucleation sites for the martensite. We found that a reduction in dislocation density with cycle correlated with a decrement in the Ms and As transition temperatures, in agreement with the experiment. It was found that competing martensite variants could develop stable domains as dislocation density reduced sufficiently which resulted in multi-domain structures. Furthermore, the critical nuclei size of the martensite variant was able to be extracted from our results. </p>