Investigation of thermomechanical properties of ferromagnetic NiFeGa shape memory alloy subjected to pseudoelastic compression test

Abstract

In the study stress-induced reversible phase transformation in NiFeGa magnetically controlled shape memory alloy subjected to pseudoelastic compression test was investigated. The specimen's mechanical characteristics and temperature changes related to the exothermic martensite transformation and endothermic reverse transformation were measured in contact-less way by using a fast and sensitive infrared camera (IR). It was found that the stress-induced phase transformation process occurs in this alloy in heterogeneous way, since the observed specimen's temperature distribution was not uniform. Stress-strain curves obtained for the first, as well as for the subsequent six loading-unloading compression cycles and their related temperature changes, elaborated as average from the specimen's surface, were analyzed. It was concluded that the stress and the temperature changes developing in the subsequent cycles depend on the applied test conditions, however the highest discrepancies were observed between the first and the second cycles of the compression loading.