Dynamics of impact-induced phase transition fronts

Abstract

Most experiments in martensitic phase transformations are performed under quasi-static loading of a specimen. The only well-documented experimental investigation concerning the impact-induced austenite-martensite phase transformations was given by Escobar and Clifton ([1], [2]). As Escobar and Clifton noted, measured velocity profiles provide a difference between the particle velocity and the transverse component of the projectile velocity. This velocity difference, in the absence of any evidence of plastic deformation, is indicative of a stress induced phase transformation that propagates into the crystals from the impact face. We develop a thermomechanical approach to the modeling of phase-transition front propagation based on the balance laws of continuum mechanics in the reference configuration [3] and the thermodynamics of discrete systems [4]. It is shown that the developed model captures the experimentally observed particle velocity difference.