Effect of heating/cooling rate on the transformation temperatures in TiNiCu shape memory alloys

In this note, the effects of heating and cooling rate on the transformation characteristics in TiNiCu shape memory alloy were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that the martensitic end transformation temperature (Mf) and reverse end transformation temperature (Af) depend strongly on the scanning rate of the heating–cooling process, Mf decreased and Af increased with increasing cooling/heating rate. However, the martensitic start transformation temperature (Ms) and reverse start transformation temperature (As) are not so sensitive to the scanning rate. The results are in good agreement with simulation results of our previous published model of martensitic transformation [Y. Huo, X.T. Zu, A. Li, Z.G. Wang, L.M. Wang, Acta Mater. 52 (2004) 2683].