A TEM study of martensite habit planes and orientation relationships in Cu–Al–Ni shape memory alloys using a fast Δg-based method

Shape memory alloys undergo a martensitic transformation, where thermomechanical properties are basically controlled by the austenite–martensite interphases, exhibiting complex orientation relationships and irrational habit planes. They are usually determined by the phenomenological theory. In this work an experimental study of nine different habit planes and orientation relationships is first realized. Then, an analysis of the interphases in the reciprocal space shows that they cannot be univocally determined by the usual two-dimensional edge-to-edge matching method. Finally, we propose a new method, based on the three-dimensional edge-to-edge matching of dense planes across the interface, to determine the habit planes and the orientation relationships. This method requires only one selected area diffraction pattern on the edge-on interface and a three-dimensional simulation of the reciprocal lattices of both structures. The habit planes determined on CuAlNi by this method agree with the values proposed by the phenomenological theory.