Influence of thermal cycling on the reversible martensitic transformation in a Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy

The thermomechanical fatigue of a Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy has been studied. For this test a stastic compressive stress has been applied to cylindrical samples during a large number of thermal cycles (about 10 000). The influence of the applied stress and of the thermal cycle number on the shape and on the transformation temperatures has been measured. The effect of a thrust limiting the deformation in the martensitic state and also of a previous cycling has been analysed.