Simplified Cofactor Conditions for Cubic to Tetragonal, Orthorhombic, and Monoclinic Phase Transformations

Abstract

Cofactor Conditions (CCs) are geometric compatibility conditions mathematically derived from the crystallographic theory of martensitic phase transformation. The CCs guarantee compatible interfaces between the austenite and the parallelled twin of the martensite with any volume fraction, yielding a wide range of microstructures during phase transformation. In recent times, CCs have demonstrated tremendous applications in the rational design of low hysteresis/fatigue shape memory alloys and shape memory ceramics. In this paper, we present a simplified form of the CCs for Type I/II twins using the eigenspace of transformation stretch tensor and twin axes. We further show the explicit forms and visualizations of the simplified CCs for Cubic to Tetragonal, Cubic to Orthorhombic, and Cubic to Monoclinic I/II phase transformations. The simplified form has revealed a more straightforward correlation between the lattice parameters and the CCs, and thus provides a more convenient tool for the rational design of phase-transforming materials.