In situ TEM study of deformation twinning in Ni–Mn–Ga non-modulated martensite Original Research Article

The straining of non-modulated (NM) Ni–Mn–Ga martensite was studied by in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Initially, the self-accommodated NM martensitic structure consists of internally twinned domains. During straining, the detwinning process starts within these domains. The internal twin variant more favorably oriented to the stress grows at the expense of the other one. In the detwinned, single-variant domain, a new twin variant can form, gradually replacing the existing variant via the twinning process. Both processes—detwinning and new twinning—proceed by the same mechanism, namely by the movement of twinning dislocations along the twin boundary. Lattice dislocations are also created in the detwinning process. While the boundaries between the internal twins are coherent and mobile, the boundaries between the internally twinned domains are incoherent, strained and not mobile. The planes of the coherent twin boundary are {2 0 2) planes and the Burgers vectors of the twinning dislocations are parallel to the 〈1 0 1] direction. The magnitude of the Burgers vector determined from the TEM observations disagrees with the calculation from the lattice constant measurement by X-ray diffraction. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.