Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
The evolution of elastic strain caused by melting and solidification of small inclusions in aluminum was investigated by in-situ transmission electron microscopy. The appearance and subsequent decay of elastic strain during phase transformation of inclusions around 100nm in size were observed directly, and the decay rate was determined as a function of temperature. The mechanism of strain accommodation was studied by determining the activation energy of the process using alloy composition and inclusion size to control the transformation temperature.