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The traditional picture of solid-solid phase transformations assumes anordered parent phase transforms into an ordered daughter phase via a singleunique pathway. Zirconium and its prototypical phase transition from hexagonalclose-packed (hcp) to simple hexagonal (hex-3) structure has generatedconsiderable controversy over several decades regarding which mechanismmediates the transformation. However, a lack of in situ measurements over therelevant atomistic timescales has hindered our ability to identify the truepathway. In this study, we exploit femtosecond X-ray diffraction coupled withnanosecond laser compression to give unprecedented insights into thecomplexities of how materials transform at the lattice level. We observesingle-crystal zirconium changing from hcp to a hex-3 structure via not one butthree competing pathways simultaneously. Concurrently, we also observe a broaddiffuse background underlying the sharp Bragg diffraction during thetransition. We corroborate our observation of the diffuse signal withmultimillion-atom molecular dynamics simulations using a machine-learnedinteratomic potential. Our study demonstrates that the traditional mechanisticview of transitions may fail for even an elemental metal and that themechanisms by which materials transform are far more intricate than generallythought.

Measurement of competing pathways in a shock-induced phase transition in zirconium by femtosecond diffraction