Crystallography of the Delta to Alpha Martensitic Transformation in Plutonium Alloys
A new stress-accommodating crystallographic mechanism of the {delta} {yields} {alpha} martensitic transformation in plutonium alloys is proposed. According to this mechanism, an orientation variant of the {alpha} phase is produced by a combination of a homogeneous strain and shuffling of the alternating close-packed (111){sub {delta}} planes. It is shown that the formation of stable transformation-induced twins whose twin plane orientations and twin shear directions do not depend on the small variations of the crystal lattice parameters is the preferred stress-accommodating mode. Only these stable twins have dislocation-free twin boundaries while the twin boundaries of all others are decorated by ultra-dense distribution of partial dislocations. The theory predicts a crystal lattice rearrangement mechanism involving the (205){sub {alpha}} ((01{bar 1}){sub {delta}}) stable twins. The corresponding Invariant Plane Strain solutions, with special emphasis on two simplest shuffling modes, the single and double elementary modes, are presented and compared with the existing experimental observations. It is shown that the habit plane orientation is highly sensitive to the input values of the crystal lattice parameters and especially to the accuracy of the measured volume change in the {delta}{yields}{alpha} transformation. An analysis of these effects on the habit plane orientation and orientation relations is also presented.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 875369
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JRNL-205365; TRN: US200603%%109
- Journal Information:
- Metallurgical Transactions A, Vol. 36A
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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