Simulation of pseudo-plasticity in shape-memory-alloys

The name shape memory originates from the material's capability to recover its original shape after an apparent plastic deformation. The secret of this property lies in the specific microstructure. During mechanical loading, alloys of this particular kind change their crystallographic structure from randomly orientated martensite to ordered martensite. With austenite as high-temperature inter-state induced by heat supply, a recovery from the ordered to the unordered martensite is possible. This is accompanied by a macroscopic "healing" process. We apply our material model for shape-memory alloys to this special property and present numerical results. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)