Effect of Low-Temperature Aging on Thermally-Induced Phase Transformation of NiTi Wire with a Wide Range of Grain Sizes

Abstract

Thermally-induced phase transformation (PT) is of significance and value to the application of NiTi alloy components. Low-temperature aging (LTA) treatment was used to alter PT characteristics of NiTi alloys avoiding undesirable grain growth. Effect of LTA on PT of NiTi wires with a wide range of grain sizes from 34 nm to 8021 nm was investigated in this study. As the average grain size varies from 34 to 217 nm, the temperature of the B2↔R transformation increase as a result of LTA, and the increasing effect is more obvious at a larger grain size. For NiTi alloys with average grain sizes ranging from 523 to 1106 nm, transformation sequence changes from B2↔B19' to B2↔R due to LTA. For the sample with an average grain size of 2190 nm, the B2↔B19' transformation is replaced by B2↔R←B19' after LTA. When the average grain size is larger than 2190 nm, transformation sequence changes from B2↔B19' to B2↔R↔B19' after LTA. Transmission emission microscope observations reveal that the above-mentioned PT behavior correlates with the coupled effect of grain size and precipitation. The precipitation of Ni4Ti3 in the grains with a size smaller than ~150 nm is inhibited after LTA, the temperature of B2→R of samples with average GS smaller than ~150 nm still is elevated due to the inhomogeneous grain size of NiTi wires.