Martensitic transition and shape memory effect of Ti-Zr-Mo series alloys

Development of shape memory alloys is always one of the most important directions for functional Ti alloys. The Ti-Zr-Mo series alloys with various Mo contents were prepared. The main aim of the current work is to investigate the effects of Mo on martensitic transition and shape memory effect of Ti-Zr alloy. The X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope results indicate that the phase constitution of the examined alloys is greatly dependent on Mo content. The Ti-Zr-Mo alloy with 2 wt% Mo is composed mainly of α′ martensite and a few β phase. As the Mo content increased to 4 wt%, the Ti-50Zr-4Mo alloy consists of α″ martensite and β phase. As the Mo content further increased to 8 wt%, the alloy consists mainly β phase and a barely detectable amount of α″ martensite. Thermal analysis shows that the reverse martensitic transition temperature of the examined alloys decreases with the increasing of Mo. The reverse martensitic transition start, A_s, temperature is approximately 584 °C for Ti-50Zr-2Mo alloy and 519 °C for Ti-50Zr-4Mo, respectively. And the martensitic transition start, M_s, temperature is approximately 553 °C and 501 °C for that two alloys, respectively. But no obvious exothermic and/or endothermic peak can be observed in DSC curve of Ti-50Zr-8Mo alloy. Furthermore, the effect of Mo content on shape memory recovery ratio, η, of the examined alloys was also investigated. Results show that the η first increases and then decreases with the increasing of Mo. The alloy with 4 wt% Mo has the maximum η approximately 13.8%. The influencing mechanism of Mo content on shape memory effect of the examined alloys was also discussed. This findings not only supplied a series of shape memory TiZr-based alloys, but also enriched and deepened the theory of shape memory effect.