The stabilization of retained austenite was studied via a two-step cooling procedure. Alloys with M , temperatures below 0 OC were used. It was found that the martensitic transformation starting temperature, M,, was lowered to M,' during the second step of cooling. With increasing the amount of previously formed martensite, the difference in the transformation starting temperatures, AM, (= M,M,...

Plastic deformations, such as those obtained by shot peening on specimen surface, are an efficient way to improve the mechanical behavior of metals. Generally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) are commonly used to observe the complex microstructural evolutions, such as grain refinement and phase transformation, induced by the surface treatment. In...

The texture of cold-rolled and heat-treated TiNi sheet has been measured and designated as {110}(1i0)p. This material has been used in thermal fatigue tests during and after which the anisotropy and development of several thermomechanical properties, such as transformation temperatures and strains, have been measured. Furthermore, the resulting changes of texture after thermal fatigue are prese...

An Fe-16MndSi alloy exhibits a good one-way and a little two-way shape memories by the stress induced y + E martensitic transformation and its reversion on heating and cyclic thermal y 2 E transformations, respectively. An intrusion of small amount of a' martensite at the initial shape change is not found to deteriorate the one-way memory and rather enhance the two-way memory. The two Fe-Mn-C a...

Methods for the dilatometric determination of the martensite start temperature of steels are discussed, with emphasis on noise in the experimental data. The methods are tested on a new set of experiments using a specially prepared steel. Relying on the first detection of expansion due to transformation is fraught with difficulties. Instead, an offset method is proposed which should enable indep...

Abstract: The properties of SMA (Shape Memory Alloys, that are smart materials) are associated to a first order phase transition named martensitic transformation that occurs between metastable phases: austenite and martensite. At upper temperature or at lower stress the austenite is the metastable phase. The martensite appears at lower temperature or higher stresses. The hysteresis of the trans...

This article presents a study of fatigue-crack propagation behavior in Nitinol, a 50Ni-50Ti (at. pct) superelastic/shape-memory alloy, with particular emphasis on the effect of the stress-induced martensitic transformation on crack-growth resistance. Specifically, fatigue-crack growth was characterized in stable austenite (at 120 8C), superelastic austenite (at 37 8C), and martensite (at 265 8C...

Besides permitting an accurate determination of the ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic phase transition temperature and the characteristic temperatures for the beginning and end of the growth of martensite (austenite) phase at the expense of austenite (martensite) phase while cooling (heating), the results of an extensive ac susceptibility, sound velocity and internal friction investigation of the t...

Microstructural analyses of thermal or mechanical fatigued Nitinol show remarkable similarities and are characterized by an increase in dislocation density with increasing number of cycles. Dislocation bands, which are thought to be due to the effects of moving martensite interfaces, align with the martensite lattice invariant plane. These microstructural effects result in modification of trans...

Magnetic Shape-Memory (MSM) materials are a new category of actuator materials with the potential to produce both large actuator strain and rapid response. To explore the possibility of developing MSM materials based on Fe-Ni-Co-Ti alloys, the effects of chemical composition (Co/Ni ratio) and ausaging on microstructure and magnetic shapememory response were studied. A suitable choice of chemica...