Microstructure and Phase Transformation Behavior of a Stress-Assisted Heat-Treated Ti-Rich NiTi Shape Memory Alloy

Abstract

In this study, the effects of stress-assisted heat treatment on the microstructure and phase transformation of a Ti-rich (Ti-49.52 at.% Ni) shape memory alloy were investigated. For this purpose, the alloy was heat treated at temperature of 500 °C for 10 h under applied stresses of 100 and 200 MPa. XRD, TEM, and repeated thermal cycling were employed to study the microstructure and transformation behavior of the heat-treated materials. Room temperature XRD diffractogram of the stress-free heat-treated material showed a weak reflection of austenite (B2), while that for the stress-assisted heat-treated materials had a high intensity implying the presence of residual austenite in the microstructure. TEM observations confirmed the presence of residual austenite and revealed mechanical twins as another constituent of the microstructure in the stress-assisted heat-treated materials. Moreover, with increasing the value of applied stress the size of mechanical twins was increased and a high density of structural defects was observed at the interfaces of the twins. DSC results demonstrated two-stage transformation in the initial cycles of transformation in the stress-assisted heat-treated material. After about eight cycles of transformation, the two-stage transformation has vanished, and a single-stage transformation remained up to 100 cycles. It was suggested that the accommodation of stresses at Ti2Ni/matrix interface provides a suitable condition for local transformation of B2 to B19′ that is manifested by a two-stage phase transformation. Introduction of structural defects during repeated thermal cycling may counteract the stress field at Ti2Ni/matrix interface leading to a single-stage transformation.