It turns out that the study of martensitic transformation can bring also aesthetically significant deeds. The best photo in the FZU staff photo competition in 2021 became a micrograph by Denys Musiienko, Ladislav Straka and Ross Colman capturing modulated martensite transforming from cubic austenite. This image obtained by interference microscopy was also published in the Institute calendar.
The same authors also reached the third place in the competition with a collage of images showing several successive steps of transformation. It can be seen that martensite is first formed at the sharp edges of the cylindrical sample and the phase interface progresses to the center of the sample. This is a beautiful illustration of the nucleation theory of the low-symmetric martensitic phase in the cubic phase.
