Yulong Liang

Effect of solution treatment and aging on microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior of NiTi shape memory alloy

Abstract As-received nickel–titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy with a nominal composition of Ni50.9Ti49.1 (mole fraction, %) was subjected to solution treatment at 1123 K for 2 h and subsequent aging for 2 h at 573 K, 723 K and 873 K, respectively. The influence of solution treatment and aging on microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior of NiTi alloy was systematically investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and compression test. Solution treatment contributes to eliminating the Ti2Ni phase in the as-received NiTi sample, in which the TiC phase is unable to be removed. Solution treatment leads to ordered domain of atomic arrangement in NiTi alloy. In all the aged NiTi samples, the Ni4Ti3 precipitates, the R phase and the B2 austenite coexist in the NiTi matrix at room temperature, while the martensitic twins can be observed in the NiTi samples aged at 873 K. In the NiTi samples aged at 573 and 723 K, the fine and dense Ni4Ti3 precipitates distribute uniformly in the NiTi matrix, and thus they are coherent with the B2 matrix. However, in the NiTi sample aged at 873 K, the Ni4Ti3 precipitates exhibit the very inhomogeneous size, and they are coherent, semi-coherent and incoherent with the B2 matrix. In the case of aging at 723 K, the NiTi sample exhibits the maximum yield strength, where the fine and homogeneous Ni4Ti3 precipitates act as the effective obstacles against the dislocation motion, which results in the maximum critical resolved shear stress for dislocation slip.

Crystallization of amorphous NiTi shape memory alloy fabricated by severe plastic deformation

Abstract Based on the local canning compression, severe plastic deformation (SPD) is able to lead to the almost complete amorphous nickel-titanium shape memory alloy (NiTi SMA), in which a small amount of retained nanocrystalline phase is embedded in the amorphous matrix. Crystallization of amorphous NiTi alloy annealed at 573, 723 and 873 K was investigated, respectively. The crystallization kinetics of the amorphous NiTi alloy can be mathematically described by the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) equation. NiTi SMA with a complete nanocrystalline phase is obtained in the case of annealing at 573 K and 723 K, where martensite phase transformation is suppressed due to the constraint of the grain boundaries. Crystallization of amorphous NiTi alloy at 873 K leads to the coarse-grained NiTi sample, where (001) martensite compound twin is observed at room temperature. It can be found that the martensitic twins preferentially nucleate at the grain boundary and they grow up towards the two different grains. SPD based on the local canning compression and subsequent annealing provides a new approach to obtain the nanocrystalline NiTi SMA.

Plastic yielding of NiTi shape memory alloy under local canning compression

Abstract As a new attempt, local canning compression was applied in order to implement large plastic deformation of nickel-titanium shape memory alloy (NiTi SMA) at room temperature. The plastic mechanics of local canning compression of NiTi SMA was analyzed according to the slab method as the well as plastic yield criterion. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study the microstructural evolution as well as deformation behavior of NiTi samples under local canning compression. Increasing the hydrostatic pressure with the increase in the outer diameters of the steel cans is responsible for suppressing the initiation and growth of the micro-cracks, which contributes to enhancing the plasticity of NiTi SMA and avoiding the occurrence of brittle fracture. Plastic deformation of NiTi SMA under a three-dimensional compressive stress state meets von-Mises yield criterion at the true strains ranging from about 0.15 to 0.50, while in the case of larger plastic strain, von-Mises yield criterion is unable to be met since the amorphous phase arises in the deformed NiTi sample.

Influence of Addition of Nb on Phase Transformation, Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Equiatomic NiTi SMA

Three novel NiTiNb shape memory alloys, which possess a nominal chemical composition of Ni50−x/2-Ti50−x/2-Nbx (at.%) where x stands for 2, 4 and 6, respectively, were designed in order to investigate the influence of the addition of Nb on phase transformation, microstructure and mechanical properties of equiatomic NiTi shape memory alloy. All the three NiTiNb shape memory alloys contain B2 austenite phase, B19′ martensite phase and β-Nb precipitate phase. Martensite type II twin can be observed in the case of Ni49Ti49Nb2 alloy. In the case of Ni48Ti48Nb4 alloy, there exists a boundary between Ti2Ni precipitate phase and β-Nb precipitate phase. As for Ni47Ti47Nb6 alloy, it can be observed that there exists an orientation relationship of

Effect of Plane Strain Compression and Subsequent Recrystallization Annealing on Microstructures and Phase Transformation of NiTiFe Shape Memory Alloy

[01\bar{1}]_{{\upbeta{\text{ - Nb}}}} //[01\bar{1}]_{\text{B2}}

Deformation mechanism of NiTi shape memory alloy subjected to severe plastic deformation at low temperature

[011¯]β- Nb//[011¯]B2 between β-Nb precipitate phase and B2 austenite matrix. The increase in Nb content contributes to enhancing the yield stress of NiTiNb shape memory alloy, but it leads to the decrease in compression fracture stress. The addition of Nb to equiatomic NiTi shape memory alloy does not have a significant influence on the transformation hysteresis of the alloy, which is attributed to the fact that NiTiNb shape memory alloy is not subjected to plastic deformation and hence β-Nb precipitate phase is unable to relax the elastic strain in the martensite interface.

Nanocrystallization and amorphization of NiTi shape memory alloy under severe plastic deformation based on local canning compression

Abstract Three different NiTi-based alloys, whose nominal compositions were Ni50Ti50, Ni49Ti49Fe2, Ni45Ti51.8Fe3.2 (mole fraction, %), respectively, were used in the current research to understand the influence of Fe addition on phase transformation behavior in NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA). The microstructure and phase transformation behavior of the alloys were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The results show that the matrix of the Ni50Ti50 alloy consists of both B19′ (martensite) phase and B2 (austenite) phase. Moreover, the substructures of twins could be observed in the B19′ phase. However, the ternary alloys of NiTiFe exhibit B2 phase in the microstructures. Such microstructures were also characterized by large presence of Ti2Ni precipitates dispersed homogenously in the matrix of the two kinds of alloys. The addition of Fe to the NiTi SMA results in the decrease in phase transformation temperatures in the ternary alloys. Based on mechanism analysis, it can be concluded that this phenomenon is primarily attributed to atom relaxation of the distorted lattice induced by Ni-antisite defects and Fe substitutions during phase transformation, which enables stabilization of B2 phase during phase transformation.

Simulation of dynamic recrystallization of NiTi shape memory alloy during hot compression deformation based on cellular automaton

The effect of plane strain compression and subsequent recrystallization annealing on microstructures and phase transformation of NiTiFe shape memory alloy (SMA) is investigated. Inhomogeneous plastic deformation at various deformation degrees occurs in NiTiFe SMA during plane strain compression. Nanocrystalline phase and amorphous phase increase as the deformation degree increases. B2 austenite, B19′ martensite, nanocrystalline and amorphous phases coexist in the NiTiFe samples subjected to large plastic strain. The static recrystallization mechanisms depend on the microstructures of the deformed NiTiFe samples. The static recrystallization mechanisms deal with nucleation and growth of the recrystallized grains, growth of nanocrystalline phase and crystallization of amorphous phase. Grain size, subgrain boundaries, geometrically necessary dislocation density and Schmid factor are captured on the basis of electron backscattered diffraction data. The process of recrystallization annealing cannot eliminate the deformation texture completely. The slip direction [110] is the most favorable slip direction in the recrystallized NiTiFe sample. Plane strain compression along with subsequent recrystallization annealing changes the phase transformation path of as-rolled NiTiFe SMA, and it results in the decreasing martensite transformation start temperature. The three annealed NiTiFe samples exhibit the similar phase transformation behavior since complete recrystallization annealing leads to the similar microstructures.