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Size effect and scaling power-law for superelasticity in shape-memory alloys at the nanoscale

Nature Nanotechnology volume 12, pages 790–796 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Shape-memory alloys capable of a superelastic stress-induced phase transformation and a high displacement actuation have promise for applications in micro-electromechanical systems for wearable healthcare and flexible electronic technologies. However, some of the fundamental aspects of their nanoscale behaviour remain unclear, including the question of whether the critical stress for the stress-induced martensitic transformation exhibits a size effect similar to that observed in confined plasticity. Here we provide evidence of a strong size effect on the critical stress that induces such a transformation with a threefold increase in the trigger stress in pillars milled on [001] L21 single crystals from a Cu–Al–Ni shape-memory alloy from 2 μm to 260 nm in diameter. A power-law size dependence of n = −2 is observed for the nanoscale superelasticity. Our observation is supported by the atomic lattice shearing and an elastic model for homogeneous martensite nucleation.

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Figure 1: Superelastic behaviour in microscale pillars.
Figure 2: Critical stress for superelasticity in the microscale domain, and reproducibility of the nanocompression tests.
Figure 3: Superelastic behaviour in nanoscale pillars.
Figure 4: Size effect on the critical stress for superelasticity.
Figure 5: Scaling power-law for superelasticity at the nanoscale.
Figure 6: Atomistic and elastic model for the size effect on superelasticity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), projects MAT2009-12492, MAT2012-36421 and CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 CSD2009-00013, as well as by the Consolidated Research Group IT-10-310 and the ETORTEK-ACTIMAT project from the Education and Industry Departments of the Basque Government and Junta de Andalucía (INNANOMAT PAI research group TEP-946). J.F.G.-C. thanks MINECO for a PhD grant. This work made use of the FIB facilities of SGIKER from the UPV/EHU and of IMEYMAT-UCA. Co-funding from FEDER-EU and REACT projects from H-2020, grant 640241, are also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento Física de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco, Apdo 644, Bilbao, 48080, Spain

    Jose F. Gómez-Cortés, Iñaki López-Ferreño & Jose M. San Juan

  2. Departamento Física Aplicada II, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco, Apdo 644, Bilbao, 48080, Spain

    Maria L. Nó

  3. Departamento de Ciencia de los Materiales e I.M. y Q.I, Facultad de Ciencias, IMEYMAT, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus Río San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain

    Jesús Hernández-Saz & Sergio I. Molina

  4. CIC nanoGUNE, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia-San Sebastian, 20018, Spain

    Andrey Chuvilin

  5. IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, María Díaz de Haro 3, Bilbao, 48013, Spain

    Andrey Chuvilin

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  1. Jose F. Gómez-Cortés
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Contributions

J.M.S.J. and M.L.N. designed the experiments, developed the model and wrote the initial manuscript with input from all the authors. I.L.-F. and J.M.S.J. produced the alloys. J.F.G.-C., J.H.-S., S.I.M., A.C., M.L.N. and J.M.S.J. performed the milling of the pillars by FIB and took the SEM micrographs. J.F.G.-C. and J.M.S.J. performed the nanocompression tests. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jose M. San Juan.

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Gómez-Cortés, J., Nó, M., López-Ferreño, I. et al. Size effect and scaling power-law for superelasticity in shape-memory alloys at the nanoscale. Nature Nanotech 12, 790–796 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.91

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