Prof. Eduard Vives, Dept. Física de la Matèria Condensada, Universitat de Barcelona, Catalonia

Solids with structural first-order phase transitions are being considered as candidates for elastocaloric refrigeration due to its large latent heat and the fact that applying mechanical stress is relatively easy compared to the alternatives based on electric or magnetic fields.

For the case of metallic alloys exhibiting martensitic transitions, it is known that the dynamics proceeds by avalanches: its discontinuous in time and highly inhomogeneous. This can have deep implications in the design of future devices, especially if one is interested in small size and high frequency actuators.

In this seminar I will review some recent experimental results on the dynamics of martensitic transitions in Cu-based alloys, obtained by Acoustic Emission detection, optical imaging of strain maps and infrared imaging. These techniques allow to track the position of the moving interface fronts and the corresponding heat sinks and sources.

For more information on attending this talk:  http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/98965