Effect of titanium content and cooling rate on the microstructure and martensitic transformation of rapidly solidified Ti-Ni shape memory alloys

ABSTRACT

One important challenge of microsystems design is the implementation of efficient principles of miniaturized actuation at the micro-scale. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have early been considered as a potential solution to this problem as these materials offer attractive properties like a high-power to weight ratio, large deformation and the capability to be micro-scale processed. Alloys of composition Ni-44,8wt%Ti and Ni-45,3wt%Ti were produced using the melt spinning method in air atmosphere. Ribbons obtained in this process showed martensitic grain size between 5 and 30 µm, depending on the alloy composition and the linear velocity of the wheel.

Keywords:
shape memory Ni-Ti alloy; rapid solidification; martensitic transformation.