Influence of the Deep Cryogenic Treatment at the Phase Transformation Temperatures and at the Stabilization of the Cu-14Al-4Ni SMA Alloy

Abstract

Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is industrially applied to improve the wear resistance characteristics of tool steels. However, on non-ferrous metals, the knowledge about the obtained characteristics after DCT is limited. The purpose of this work was to investigate how DCT affects the properties and the behavior of the Cu-14Al-4Ni alloy treated at different times and after thermomechanical cycling was performed. In the present investigation, there was performed a comparative experimental analysis of the transformation temperatures, microhardness and shape recovery capacity of the alloy obtained by smelting, treated by DCT and thermomechanically cycled. The DCT provided the stabilization of the martensitic phase β'1and, consequently, the stabilization of the phase transformation temperatures and the shape recovery capacity of the shape memory effect of the alloy, increasing the alloy life.