Influence of alloying elements on the thermal behavior of NiTi shape memory alloys

Abstract

NiTi based shape memory alloys are one of the most intensely studied alloys from its class. Therefore, diverse commercial applications have been developed due to certain properties such as: shape memory effect, superelasticity and corrosion resistance. Currently, the main applications of NiTi alloys are automotive manufacturing and aerospace actuators, biomedical devices or pipe couplings. In recent years, NiTi shape memory alloys have been alloyed with a third element in order to improve the above-mentioned properties. In order to investigate the influence of the alloying elements on the thermal behavior of NiTi alloys, the addition of the third alloying element (Ta and Nb) is under investigation in the present study. The thermal behavior of the three alloys (NiTi, NiTiNb and NiTiTa) was studied by differential scanning calorimetry. Following the experiments, it was observed that the addition of the third alloying element influences the critical transformation temperatures.