Effect of Aging Treatment on Phase Transformation of a Pseudoelastic NiTi Alloy

Abstract

The pseudoelasticity (PE) and shape memory effect (SME) are the two main behaviors presented by the shape memory alloys (SMA's) and are associated respectively to mechanical and thermally induced martensitic transformations. The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of heat treatment temperature on the microstructure properties and phase transformation temperatures of a NiTi alloy with 57 w.t. % Ni. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) was carried out to obtain the phases present. The phase transformation temperatures were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The alloy chemical composition and hardness were obtained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), hardness (HRC) and microhardness (HV) tests, respectively. The analysis were performed in the state as received and after aging treatment at different temperatures between 350 °C and 600°C. The samples as received contained a fully austenitic microstructure at room temperature and the DSC analysis showed the presence of a phase transformation in multiple steps (B19'-R-B2). After aging at 350 °C the R phase was observed at room temperature with the austenite. With the aging treatment at 600 °C the R phase was solubilized and the alloy phase transformation occurred in a single step, ie, direct transformation from austenite to martensite and vice versa. The transformation temperatures Af, As, Ms and Mf changed with the aging treatment temperatures.