Fabrication of TiNi Powder by Mechanical Alloying and Shape Memory Characteristics of the Sintered Alloy

This paper presents the fabrication condition of TiNi alloy powder by mechanical alloying and shape memory characteristics of the sintered alloy. The effect of mechanical alloying condition on the characteristics of mechanically alloyed powder (MA powder) was investigated. Also, the difference in sintering behavior between the MA powder and the elementally mixed powders by V-blender and the shape memory characteristics of the sintered alloys were also examined. The MA powder was fabricated by milling using a planetary ball mill in a rotational speed between 200 and 500 min-1 for various milling times in an atmosphere of Ar gas. These two types of powders prepared in different processes were sintered using a pulse-current pressure sintering equipment at various sintering temperatures. The powder agglomerated and its particle size became larger with an increase in milling time. The mixture of Ti and Ni powders changed into an amorphous state by processing for 3.6 ks over 300 min^-1. The sintered alloy of the MA powder showed more uniform phase of TiNi than that of the elementally mixed powders sintered in a same manner, however, the former showed a lower density than the latter due to a larger particle size of the MA powder of before-sintering. It was found from the measurement of the transformation temperature of the sintered alloy of the MA powder using DSC that the alloy has shape memory characteristics, and the transformation temperatures of the alloy are higher than those of the alloy of the elementally mixed powders due to waste of Ni powder.