The Influence of Stress and Heat on the Transformation Behaviour of NiTi for Actuator Applications in Extruded Aluminium Matrix Composites

Abstract

The integration of functions in lightweight structures features great potential for future applications in diagnosis and control. The combination of shape memory wires or ribbons made of NiTi embedded in aluminium and manufactured by composite extrusion offers the possibility to produce a composite actuator material in a single production step. The extrusion process allows a wide range of shapes and provides higher versatility than actuators made of bi-metals. The transformation temperature of NiTi varies depending on the composition of the alloy, between -100 °C and 100 °C. However, NiTi can also transform stress-induced. In the designated application, a force is applied via the interface onto the matrix material to deform it. Due to the resulting stress, the transformation temperature rises to temperatures higher than those of the unloaded material. Furthermore the production of composite extrusions leads to a significant heat input on the shape memory alloys followed by another increase of the transformation temperature.Therefore it is essential to reproduce the heat treatment and the stress-induced transformation to predict the transformation temperature in the resulting composite influenced by the interface. For that purpose, the wire gets annealed in a furnace with different durations at a temperature similar to that of the bar extrusion process. After this, the transformation temperatures can be observed at various stresses to evaluate their applicability for aluminium composite actuators.