Incompatible sets of gradients and metastability (Q887917)

In this article, ``a mathematical analysis of a concept of metastability induced by incompatibility'' is given. ``The physical setting is a single parent phase, just about to undergo transformation to a product phase of lower energy density. Under certain conditions of incompatibility of the energy wells of this energy density, [the authors] show that the parent phase is metastable in a strong sense, namely, it is a local minimizer of the free energy in an \(L^1\)-neighbourhood of its deformation.'' They ``define and characterize incompatible sets of matrices, in terms of which the transition layer estimate at the heart of the proof of metastability is expressed.'' Several applications of the metastability theorem are given to materials that undergo diffusionless phase transformations involving a change of shape, called martensitic phase transformations. (Quotations taken from the authors' abstract.)