In TiNi-based shape memory alloys (SMAs), the effects of thermal cycling on the transformation peak temperatures of B2 ↔ B19', B2 ↔ R, B2 ↔ B19, B2 ↔ R ↔ B19', and B2 ↔ B19 ↔ B19' one-stage and two-stage transformations have been investigated and compared. Experimental results of the differential scanning calorimeter and hardness tests indicate that the alloy's intrinsic hardness and the shear strain, s, associated with martensitic transformation, are two important factors, due to their relation to the ease of introducing dislocations during cycling. The temperature decrease by cycling for one-stage transformation was in the order of B2 ↔ B19' > B2 ↔ B19 > B2 ↔ R according to the orders of magnitude of their s values. This phenomenon also affected the suppression of B19 ↔ B19' and R ↔ B19' transformation peak temperatures in two-stage transformation. Both Ti50Ni48Fe2 and Ti48.7Ni51.3 SMAs aged at 450 °C for 4 h exhibited B2 ↔ R ↔ B19' transformation, but the hardness of the latter was much higher than that of the former due to the precipitation hardening of the Ti3Ni4 precipitates. This causesd the decrease of the R ↔ B19' transformation peak temperature in the Ti50Ni48Fe2 SMA to be much higher than that in Ti48.7Ni51.3 SMAs aged at 450 °C for 4 h, which directly affected the sequential B2 ↔ R transformation of Ti50Ni48Fe2 SMA in the next thermal cycle and decreased this transformation peak temperature. The Ti48Ni52 SMA aged at 600 °C for 150 h underwent B2 ↔ B19' transformation and then B2 → R → B19'/B19' → B2 transformation as the cycle number increased, in which the B2 ↔ R transformation peak temperature raised slightly by cycling. This characteristic is uncommon and may have resulted from the strain field around the thermal-cycled dislocations favoring the formation of the R-phase.
Keywords: TiNi-based shape memory alloys; martensitic transformation sequence; shear strain; thermal cycling; transformation temperature.