High Damping of Lightweight TiNi-Ti2Ni Shape Memory Composites for Wide Temperature Range Usage

Abstract

A bimodal porous TiNi-Ti2Ni shape memory alloy composite (SMAC) with 59% porosity was fabricated by sintering Ti-46at.%Ni elemental powders with pore-forming agent. The porous TiNi-Ti2Ni SMAC contains two irregular pores of about 400 and 120 μm. We investigated the microstructure and pore morphology correlated with the mechanical properties and damping capacities of the SMAC. Ti2Ni intermetallic phases with size of 1-3 μm were homogeneously distributed in the TiNi matrix. The porous TiNi-Ti2Ni SMAC exhibits exceptionally high inverse mechanical quality factor (Q −1) of ~0.25 at < 40 °C, which is among the highest value reported for porous/dense shape memory alloys or composites to best of our knowledge, and it shows very high compressive fracture strain of about 25%. Moreover, the fabricated porous SMAC at relatively low strain amplitude can exhibit considerable high Q −1 of 0.06 ~ 0.11 for a wide range of temperature between − 90 and 200 °C, which is attributed to the stress concentration distribution provided by the bimodal structure of pores and the massive interfaces between pore/matrix and TiNi/Ti2Ni. These porous SMACs can be an ideal candidate for using as a lightweight damping material in the energy-saving applications.