HCP to BCC Phase Transformation in Ti Characterized by Nanosecond Electron Microscopy

摘要

The general class of martensitic phase transformations occurs by a rapid lattice-distortive mechanism, where kinetics and morphology of the transformation are dominated by the strain energy. Since transformation is diffusionless, phase fronts propagate through a crystal with great speed that can approach the speed of sound. We have observed a particular example of this class of phase transformation, the hexagonal close packed (HCP) to body centered cubic (BCC) transformation in titanium that is driven by a rapid increase in temperature. We have used a novel nanosecond electron microscope (the dynamic transmission electron microscope, DTEM) to acquire diffraction and imaging information on the transformation, which is driven in-situ by nanosecond laser irradiation. Using nanosecond exposure times that are possible in the DTEM, data can be collected about the transient events in these fast transformations. We have identified the phase transformation with diffraction patterns and correlated the time of the phase transformation with calculated conditions in the sample.