Fatigue-resistant elastocaloric effect in hypoeutectic TiNi58 alloy with heterogeneous microstructure

Abstract

Shape memory alloys with high fatigue life and large adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad) are critical for elastocaloric effect in practical solid-state refrigeration applications. Here, we report on the discovery of a hypoeutectic TiNi58 alloy by heterogeneous microstructure design to perform ΔTad of 6.1 K after 2 million fatigue loading-unloading cycles. The fatigue-resistant elastocaloric effect is achieved by a highly reversible quasi-linear superelasticity with strength of 2.2 GPa and modulus of 44.9 GPa. Such stable mechanical behavior is attributed to the prepared unique heterogeneous microstructure, as characterized by multi-scale microscopic analysis. The heterogeneous microstructure is consisted of dendrite regions with Ti2Ni3 precipitates and the surrounding eutectic structure with lath TiNi3 phase. The lath intermetallic TiNi3 phase surrounding dendrite regions works as skeletal reinforcement, providing extra mechanical fatigue stability and giving rise to high strength. The cubic structured Ti2Ni3 precipitates produce local lattice strain due to lattice mismatch within the surrounding B2 matrix with near equiatomic composition. Detailed phase-field simulation based on the local strain field distribution in B2 matrix reveals a continuous transition behavior of martensite under external loads distinct from conventional stress-induced violent autocatalytic martensitic transformation, which is the origin of controlled strain release in quasi-linear superelasticity with ultrahigh fatigue stability. This work demonstrates the potential of hypoeutectic TiNi58 alloy for long-term elastocaloric service and provides guidance to design new elastocaloric materials with high fatigue resistance in bulk mass through simple controlled casting process.