Thermomechanical behavior of pseudoelastic NiTi shape memory alloys

The thermomechanical behavior of polycrystalline Ni-rich pseudoelastic NiTi shape memory alloys is analyzed. Special focus is on regions within the stress strain diagram which are regarded as linear elastic in common phenomenological material models, i.e. the region between zero stress and the beginning of the pseudoelastic plateau as well as the region within the hysteresis. In both cases, severe temperature changes can be observed. A possible explanation for this effect is twofold: On the one hand, it might be explained by the presence of an R-phase transformation. On the other hand, unstructured martensite of the B19' phase may form. However, the assumption of a purely thermo-elastic material behavior in those regions does not seem to hold true in general. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)