The f.c.c. to h.c.p. martensitic phase transformation in CoNi studied by TEM and AFM methods

Abstract

The thermally induced martensitic phase transformation from the high temperature (f.c.c.) to the low temperature (h.c.p.) phase was studied in a Co32% Ni single crystal by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and light microscopy with multiple beam interferometry (MBI). Quantitative analysis of the TEM results shows that the transformation takes place by consecutive glide of partial dislocations of the same Shockley partial Burgers vector on every other close packed plane. The tapering h.c.p. lamellae contain high shear strains and cause long range internal stresses that facilitate transformation induced plasticity. The AFM and MBI results show that the transformation shear strains are compensated on a mesoscopic scale. This indicates that the transformation induced stresses trigger the formation of new self-accommodating h.c.p. lamellae by an autocatalytic process. It should be pointed out that the reverse transformation (h.c.p. → f.c.c.) previously investigated in the same material showed the occurrence of a different transformation mechanism based on an atomistic compensation.