Effect of thermal cycling(γ↔ε) on γ→ε martensitic transformation kinetics and damping
capacity of Fe-17mass%Mn alloy has been studied. The amount of ε martensite increases with
thermal cycling in spite of decrease in Ms temperature. The increase in ε martensite content with
thermal cycling is attributable to an increase in the density of martensite nucleation sites by
introduction of dislocations during thermal cycling. The γ→ε martensitic transformation kinetics
shows a burst mode in the non-cycled specimen, while the kinetics exhibits a sigmoidal mode in the
cycled specimens. The damping capacity of the alloy increases with increasing the ε martensite
content in the non-cycled specimen. On the contrary, the damping capacity of the alloy decreases
with increasing the ε martensite content in the cycled specimens. The reason is that the dislocations
introduced during thermal cycling, which obstruct the movement of the damping sources, become
more with thermal cycling.