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Doping point defects into shape memory alloys (SMAs) influences their transformation behaviors and mechanical properties. We propose a general Landau free energy model to study doping effects, which only assumes that point defects produce local dilatational stresses coupled to the non-order parameter volumetric strain. Different dopants can be represented by their range of interaction and potency of dilatational stress. Time-dependent simulations based on our model successfully reproduce experimentally observed doping effects in SMAs, including the elevation or suppression of the transformation temperature, the modification of mechanical properties, the appearance of a cross-hatched tweed structure and the emergence of a frozen glassy state with local strain order. We predict that the temperature range for superelasticity will be enhanced in the crossover region between martensite and strain glass. In addition, an Elinvar effect appears most likely in alloys with dopants tending to increase the transformation temperature, which needs to be verified experimentally. Moreover, the two parameters in the Landau model, the interaction range and potency of the dilatational stress, inspire us to identify three material descriptors with which we can construct an empirical machine learning model. The model predicts the transformation temperature, and the slope of the change in transformation temperature as a function of doping composition, enabling an effective search for doped SMAs with targeted properties via machine learning. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-range strain-ordered strain glass (STG) appears when the kinetic limitation (local stress field produced by random defects) is strong enough to suppress thermodynamic driven long-range strain-ordered martensitic transition. The point defects and precipitates have been proven to be effective to suppress the martensitic transition and trap the system in a frozen STG state. The dislocations can also introduce the random stress field down to atomic scale, however the effectiveness of which on the crossover from martensite to STG transition remains unknown. Here we report the first experimental finding of the dislocation induced STG transition in a Ti 50 Ni 45 Fe 5 martensitic alloy when the sample was cold compressed by over 20% plastically. Being different from the point defects and precipitates, the dislocations do not change the chemical composition of the matrix and consequently do not vary the transition temperature too much. Our finding verifies the effectiveness of local randomness on the crossover from martensite to STG transition and suggests that the global effect of defects is not a necessary condition for the occurrence of STG. The present finding may promote the application of STG alloy by assisting on the tuning of functional temperature range in STG alloy through adding the randomness of dislocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]