In Situ TEM Nanoindentation Studies on Stress-Induced Phase Transformations in Metallic Materials

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Although abundant phase transformations are in general thermally driven processes, there are many examples wherein stresses can induce phase transformations. Numerous in situ techniques, such as in situ x-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction, have been applied to reveal phase transformations. Recently, an in situ nanoindentation technique coupled with transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the capability to directly correlating stresses with phase transformations and microstructural evolutions at a submicron length scale. Here we briefly review in situ studies on stress-induced diffusional and diffusionless phase transformations in amorphous CuZrAl alloy and NiFeGa shape memory alloy. In the amorphous CuZrAl, in situ nanoindentation studies show that the nucleation of nanocrystals (a diffusional process) occurs at ultra-low stresses manifested by a prominent stress drop. In the NiFeGa shape memory alloy, two distinctive types of martensitic (diffusionless) phase transformations accompanied by stress plateaus are observed, including a reversible gradual phase transformation at low stress levels, and an irreversible abrupt phase transition at higher stress levels.