On the potential of Ti50Au50 compound as a high temperature shape memory alloy

High temperature shape memory alloys have received a large interest for many years but none of the systems studied so far has led to industrial applications yet. The titanium-gold system has been reported to develop a martensitic transformation at high temperature but the previous studies did not mention about shape memory effect in a quantitative way. Here are presented first elements concerning the potential of this compound as a high temperature shape memory alloy, from the functional properties and oxidation resistance point of view. A maximum recovered compression strain of 3.9% can be obtained for an initial compression strain of 5% corresponding to a 78% shape recovery, in the range of temperature 850–950 K. A two-way shape memory effect is also reported for the first time for this compound. The oxidation of the alloy at these temperatures seems to be a limitation but its behavior around 700 K is very promising.