Mechanical Properties of Aged-TiNiPdCu High Temperature Shape Memory Alloys

Abstract

High temperature ternary Ti50Ni25Pd25 and quaternary Ti50Ni20Pd25Cu5 shape memory alloys were developed in vacuum arc melting furnace using high purity constituent elements. Half numbers of samples were solution treated at 900 °C for 2 hrs and remaining were aged at 600 °C for 3 hrs. Both alloys were characterized for microstructure analysis and mechanical properties. After aging the alloys, no significant change in microstructure was observed in ternary alloy however, fine precipitates of bright color were found along the grain boundaries in quaternary alloy. The mechanical properties of ternary and quaternary alloys were found to be improved significantly. Microhardness of ternary alloy was increased by 18 Hv whereas for quaternary alloy the same property was improved by 24 Hv. Yield stress of ternary and quaternary was observed to be enhanced by 10 MPa and 9 MPa respectively. Similarly the fracture stress was observed to be increased by 9 MPa and 13.4 MPa. Conversely, the fracture strain of ternary and quaternary alloys was reduced by 0.5% and 0.35% respectively. From these results it can be established that aging at 600 °C is beneficial to improve the mechanical properties of both alloys however, quaternary alloy responded more actively as compared to ternary alloy.