Understanding the mismatch strain and orientation of nanoscale second phase on the superelasticity of zirconia

Abstract

In the current work, a real-space phase field model based on the Landau theory is established to study tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation in nanocomposite zirconia. The model successfully captures the superelasticity behavior of nanocomposite zirconia above the equilibrium temperature, and obtains the main characteristics of martensitic transformation with different mismatch strains of the second phase. The simulation results show that mismatch strains can decrease the critical transformation stress, whereas orientations of the second phase exert a limited effect on the martensitic transformation behavior.