Positivity of temperature in the general Frémond model for shape memory alloys

In this paper, we consider a model introduced by M. Fr~mond to describe the martensitic phase transitions in shape memory alloys. In the derivation of his model, M. Fr'emond made the (physically reasonable) assumption that the state variable representing the absolute temperature is always positive. Although various results concerning existence and uniqueness of solutions to certain simplified versions of the governing field equations have been established in the past, it has been an open problem if the positivity of temperature can be recovered from the model. In our contribution, we give a rigorous proof that, under rather weak assumptions on the data of the system, any sufficiently smooth solution of the governing field equations has indeed the property that the absolute temperature variable attains positive values almost everywhere. The method of proof applies to all the simplified versions of the field equations that have been studied in the literature.Partially supported by DFG, SPP Anwendungsbezogene Optimierung und Steuerung, and by I.A.N. of C.N.R., Pavia — ItalyPartially supported by DFG, SPP Anwendungsbezogene Optimierung und Steuerung