Branching of twins in shape memory alloys revisited

TL;DR

This paper presents a new explicit construction for branched microstructures in shape memory alloys, demonstrating energy reduction and realistic microstructure predictions through numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a low-energy, explicit construction for twin branching in shape memory alloys applicable to various materials and geometries.

Findings

Construction follows expected energy scaling laws.

Predicts twin width and branching generations accurately.

Applicable to different microstructure features without violating energy laws.

Abstract

We study the branching of twins appearing in shape memory alloys at the interface between austenite and martensite. In the framework of three-dimensional non-linear elasticity theory, we propose an explicit, low-energy construction of the branched microstructure, generally applicable to any shape memory material without restrictions on the symmetry class of martensite or on the geometric parameters of the interface. We show that the suggested construction follows the expected energy scaling law, i.e., that (for the surface energy of the twins being sufficiently small) the branching leads to energy reduction. Furthermore, the construction can be modified to capture different features of experimentally observed microstructures without violating this scaling law. By using a numerical procedure, we demonstrate that the proposed construction is able to predict realistically the twin width and the number of branching generations in a Cu-Al-Ni single crystal.