Effect of the Thermomechanical Treatment on Structural and Phase Transformations in Cu–14Al–3Ni Shape Memory Alloy Subjected to High-Pressure Torsion

Abstract

The possibilities of controlling the structure and properties of a Cu–Al–Ni shape memory alloy due to the use of different schemes of the thermomechanical treatment, including forging, homogenizing in the austenitic state and subsequent quenching, and high-pressure torsion have been found. For the first time, an ultrafine-grain structure has been produced in this alloy via severe plastic deformation using high-pressure torsion. It has been detected that high-pressure torsion using ten revolutions of the anvils leads to the formation of a nanocrystalline structure with a grain size of less than 100 nm. The subsequent short-term heating of the alloy to 800°С (10 s) in the temperature region of the existence of the homogeneous β phase made it possible to form an ultrafine-grain structure with predominant sizes of recrystallized grains of 1 and 8 μm. The quenching after heating prevented the decomposition of the solid solution. The refinement of the grain structure changed the deformation behavior of the alloy, having provided the possibility of the significant plastic deformation upon mechanical tensile tests. The coarse-grained hot-forged quenched alloy was brittle, and fracture occurred along the boundaries of former austenite grains and martensite packets. The highstrength ultrafine-grained alloy also experienced mainly the intercrystalline fracture along the high-angle boundaries of elements of the structure, the grain size of which was less by two orders than that in the initial alloy. This determined an increase in its relative elongation upon mechanical tests.