Modulated martensite in NiTi shape memory alloy exposed to high stress at high temperatures

NiTi shape memory wire was deformed in martensite state at low temperature −125 °C up to 750 MPa stress and subsequently heated far above the A _f temperature while the stress 750 MPa was held constant. Under such conditions, the heated B19’ martensite in the wire was driven towards its thermomechanical stability limits and eventually transformed into plastically deformed austenite. In order to evaluate the mechanism by which such highly constrained reverse martensitic transformation proceeds, martensite variant microstructures and lattice defects evolving in the heated wire were analyzed by TEM and HRTEM. It is found that, the oriented B19’ monoclinic martensite deformed plastically via kwinking deformation involving coordinated dislocation slip and twinning and simultaneously adopted a long period modulated crystal structure, before it transformed to austenite upon heating under applied stress. It is proposed that the modulated martensite structure forms from the B19’ structure via coordinated slip of partial dislocations with Burgers vector b = a / 2 [100] on (001) crystal planes. Coordinated slip was enforced by the kwinking deformation and partial dislocations started to glide because the martensite was exposed to elevated temperatures. Plastic deformation of oriented B19’ martensite enabling the reverse martensitic transformation upon the constrained heating is discussed in view of its impact on NiTi functionality in engineering applications.