Deformation behaviour and shape memory effect of near equi-atomic NiTi alloy

The mechanical shape memory effect associated with the martensitic-type transformation which occurs in polycrystalline Ti-50.3 at. % Ni alloy has been investigated using the techniques of transmission and optical microscopy. Deformation of initially partially transformed material within the recoverable strain range was found to occur by: (1) stress-induced transformation of the most favourably oriented existing martensite variants at the expense of adjacent unfavourably oriented variants and retained high temperature phase (2) stress-induced re-orientation of favourably oriented martensite by utilizing the most favourably oriented twin system, and (3) stress-induced twin-boundary migration within the martensite. The reverse transformation during heating restores the original grain structure of the high-temperature phase in a highly coherent manner. It was concluded that deformation modes limited to those involved in the transformation process and the reversibility of the transformation give rise to the memory effect.