Entropic stabilization of austenite in shape memory alloys

Martensitic transformations (MTs) are the key phenomena responsible for the remarkable properties of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs). Recent Density Functional Theory (DFT) electronic structure calculations have revealed that the austenite structure of many SMAs is a saddle-point of the material's potential energy landscape. Correspondingly, the austenite is unstable and thus unobservable at zero temperature. Thus, the observable high temperature austenite structure in many SMAs is entropically stabilized by nonlinear dynamic effects.