Abstract
The structural changes during reversible martensitic transformation of near-equiatomic NiTi alloys can best be studied in TEM at around room temperature. Ternary additions like Mn offer this possibility by suppressing the Ms temperature below RT. Besides the stable intermetallic phases (Ti2Ni, TiNi, TiNi3) several metastable phases with various crystallographic structures (rhombohedral, hexagonal, monoclinic, cubic) have also been reported to precipitate due to suitable annealing procedures.TiNi:Mn samples with 0.9 and 1.3 at% Mn were arc melted in argon atmosphere and homogenized at 948 °C for 72 hours in high vacuum in an infrared furnace. After spark cutting slices of 0.2 mm, TEM specimens were prepared by electrochemical polishing with the twin-jet technique in methanol - perchloric acid electrolyte. The TEM study was carried out in a JEOL 200 CX analytical electron microscope.In this paper a new intermetallic phase is reported which has been observed in both samples by TEM during the martensitic transformation process.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)