On Thermomechanics of Martensite Transitions

In the last ten to fifteen years, a number of works appeared in which solid-state phase transitions were considered in the framework of mechanics of continua. For example, Grinfeld [2] constructed the equilibrium phase conditions by variational principles formulated in the classical work of Gibbs [1]; note, also, works [3-5] and others. These works, typically, deal with the phase equilibrium conditions only. This paper addresses, mainly, the diffusionless (martensite) transitions and outlines the thermodynamics of such transitions. The suggested approach allows one to analyze the transition kinetics, and, in particular, the phase equilibrium conditions.