Peculiar martensitic microstructure and dislocation accumulation behavior in Ti-Ni-Cu shape memory alloys almost satisfying the triplet condition

Dislocation accumulation behavior at the lattice correspondence variant (CV) triplets of the Ti-Ni-Cu alloy close to the triplet condition (TC) was investigated by using in situ heating transmission electron microscopy observation. The martensitic microstructure of this alloy was peculiar because of no {011}o compound twin laminate as predicted by the phenomenological theory of martensite crystallography. The peculiar martensitic microstructure was composed of a combination of six different CVs connected by twin-relationship, including triplet and quadruple. Other types of triplets with higher incompatibility were not observed. It was revealed that few transformation-induced dislocations associated with thermal cycling were formed at the compatible martensitic microstructure satisfying the TC in the present alloy. The fact that few transformation-induced dislocations are formed in the TC microstructure in the Ti-30Ni-20Cu alloy during thermal cycling explains the good thermal cycling properties of this alloy.