Powder Metallurgical Fabrication and Characterization of Nanostructured Porous NiTi Shape-Memory Alloy

Production of NiTi alloy from elemental powders was conducted by mechanical alloying (MA) and sintering of the raw materials. Effects of milling time and milling speed (RPM) on crystallite size, lattice strain, and XRD peak intensities were investigated by X-ray analysis of the alloy. Powder compaction and sintering time and temperature effects on pore percentage of the as-mixed and the mechanically alloyed samples were empirically evaluated. The crystallite size of the mechanically alloyed Ni₅₀Ti₅₀ samples decreased with MA duration and with the milling speed. Depending on the crystal structure of the raw materials, the lattice strain increases with the milling duration. Metallographic studies proved the existence of martensitic B19' after sintering of both the as-mixed and the mechanically alloyed samples. Its amount was, however, greater for the former. Sintering lowered the porosity of the samples; no matter what powder (as-mixed or mechanically alloyed) was used. The porosity was greater, however, for the MA powders. This difference seemed to be due to the sharper liquid phase sintering effect of the as-mixed samples.