Temperature memory effect in two-way shape memory TiNi and TiNiCu springs

An incomplete thermal cycle upon heating in a shape memory alloy (arrested at a temperature between As and Af ) induced a kinetic stop in the next complete thermal cycle. The kinetic stop temperature is closely related to the previous arrested temperature. This phenomenon is named temperature memory effect (TME). In this article, the TME in two-way shape memory TiNiCu and TiNi springs was investigated by performing either a single incomplete cycle, or a sequence of incomplete cycles. N points of temperatures could be memorized if N times of incomplete cycles on heating were performed with different arrested temperatures in a decreasing order. The capability is enhanced by performing repetitive incomplete cycles with the same temperature, and the TME can be eliminated by appropriate complete transformation cycle. The TME is originated from the relaxation of both the strain energy between martensite and coherent strain between parent phase and martensite. C 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc