Microstructural evolution of Mn-rich antiferromagnetic Mn–Cu alloy under temperature field

Abstract

This paper reports the microstructural evolution during forward and reverse martensitic transformations as temperature changes in Mn-rich Mn–Cu alloy. The driving force of martensitic transformation and transformation strain in time-dependent Ginzburg–Laudau kinetic equation is considered as functions of temperature. The computer simulation by using a three-dimensional phase-field theory shows that fct (011) twin martensites grow up with decreasing temperature and shrink with increasing temperature under martensitic transformation temperature, Ms. The forward and reverse processes are entirely reversible and show a very small hysteresis. It is proved that the relaxation of stored strain energy during the forward martensitic transformation plays a key role when reverse martensitic transformation takes place. The simulated results are consistent with experiments.