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Large superplastic strain in non-modulated epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga films
The phase transformation and superplastic characteristics of free-standing epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga stripes are reported. The stripes are prepared by micromachining a 1 μm thick Ni-Mn-Ga film sputter-deposited on a single crystalline MgO (100) substrate using optical lithography and a Chromium-based sacrificial layer technology. The stripes are oriented at angles of 0 and 45 degrees with respect to the Ni-Mn-Ga unit cell. Electrical resistance versus temperature characteristics reveal a reversible thermally induced phase transformation between 169°C and 191°C. Stress-strain measurements are performed with the stress applied along the [100]Ni-Mn-Ga as well as [110]Ni-Mn-Ga direction. Depending on the orientation, the twinning stress ranges between 25 and 30 MPa, respectively. For the [100] Ni-Mn-Ga and [110]Ni-Mn-Ga directions, superplastic behaviour with a strain plateau of 12 % and 4% are observed, respectively, indicating stress-induced reorientation of non-modulated martensite variants.
Self-stabilization of the equilibrium state in ferroelectric thin films
(K,Na)NbO3 is a lead-free and sustainable ferroelectric material with electromechanical parameters comparable to Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) and other lead-based solid solutions. It is therefore a promising candidate for caloric cooling and energy harvesting applications. Specifically, the structural transition from the low-temperature Mc- to the high-temperature c-phase displays a rich hierarchical order of domains and superdomains, that forms at specific strain conditions. The relevant length scales are few tens of nanometers for the domain and few micrometers for the superdomain size, respectively. Phase-field calculations show that this hierarchical order adds to the total free energy of the solid. Thus, domains and their formation has a strong impact on the functional properties relevant for electrocaloric cooling or energy harvesting applications. However, monitoring the formation of domains and superdomains is difficult and requires both, high spatial and high temporal resolution of the experiment. Synchrotron-based time-resolved X-ray diffraction methods in combination with scanning imaging X-ray microscopy is applied to resolve the local dynamics of the domain morphology with sub-micrometer spatial and nanosecond temporal resolution. In this regime, the material displays a novel self-stabilization mechanism of the domain morphology, which may be a general property of first-order phase transitions.