On the degradation of shape memory effect in trace Ti-added Cu–Zn–Al alloy

Present study concerns the effect of trace addition of Ti on the factors governing the microstructural evolution in Cu–Zn–Al shape memory alloy during different thermal treatments. It has been revealed that trace addition of Ti has significantly reduced the transformation temperatures. This in turn, has reduced the susceptibility to microstructural degradation induced by the ageing effect. It has been shown that Ti forms fine precipitate at the β-phase temperature, which do not contribute to the processes related to the degradation of shape memory effect, rather aids in the nucleation of favorable martensite variants. Moreover, addition of Ti has led to a finer grain size of the alloy due to the pinning effect of the precipitate along with the reduced solute drag.