3.1. Microstructure of Ti49Ni51 Alloy
Figure 1 shows the XRD patterns of as-cast and heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples. The results show that the microstructures of as-cast and heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples at 723 K are composed of B2 TiNi phase (CsCl structure), Ti
3Ni
4 phase (Rhombohedral structure), and Ti
2Ni phase (Face-centered cubic structure). However, the microstructures of the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples at 773 and 823 K are composed of B2-type TiNi phase, and of B2-type TiNi phase and Ti
2Ni phase, respectively; the diffraction peaks of Ti
3Ni
4 phase are not observed in
Figure 1a. The weak relative diffraction intensity of the Ti
3Ni
4 phase indicates the low content of Ti
3Ni
4 phase. Accordingly, the content of the Ti
3Ni
4 phase of heat-treated samples is lower than that of the as-cast alloy. To clearly see the diffraction peak of Ti
2Ni phase,
Figure 1b is a local enlargement of
Figure 1a. The Ti
2Ni diffraction peak of as-cast alloys is mainly below 30°. For the 723 K heat-treated alloy, the diffraction peak of Ti
2Ni phase is 39.6°; for the 773 K heat-treated alloy, Ti
2Ni and Ti
3Ni
4 phases are not found in XRD patterns. When the heat treatment temperature is further increased, a small amount of Ti
2Ni precipitates from the 823 K heat-treated alloy. Because the diffraction angle of the strongest diffraction of Ti
2Ni phase is 41.68°, the diffraction peaks of the TiNi phase in 723 and 823 K heat-treated alloys become wider, as shown in
Figure 1b. Because the intensity of the main diffraction peak of Ti
2Ni phase is weak, the results show that the content of the Ti
2Ni phase is relatively small. The cause of Ti
2Ni phase precipitation needs to be further studied in future work.
Figure 2 shows the microstructure of as-cast and heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples. The results show that a large number of Ti
3Ni
4 phases precipitate along the grain boundary of B2 TiNi phases, and a small amount of Ti
3Ni
4 phases precipitate inside B2 TiNi phases. Because of the small content of Ti
2Ni phase, it is difficult to distinguish Ti
2Ni from Ti
3Ni
4 particles in
Figure 2. Therefore, in discussing
Figure 2, the precipitation of Ti
2Ni phase in TiNi phase is neglected. In addition, the content of Ti
3Ni
4 phase for the as-cast Ti
49Ni
51 alloy (see
Figure 2a) is significantly higher than that for the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy (see
Figure 2b–d). In addition, the content and size of Ti
3Ni
4 phase decrease with the increase of heat treatment temperature, as shown in
Figure 2b–d. The grain sizes of Ti
3Ni
4 phase for the as-cast Ti
49Ni
51 alloy (see
Figure 2a) are also larger than those of the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy (see
Figure 2b–d). In fact, the range of size of Ti
3Ni
4 particles in the as-cast alloy is 0.2–7 µm; for the 723 K heat-treated alloys, the range of size of Ti
3Ni
4 particles is 0.2–3 µm; for the 773 and 823 K heat-treated alloys, the ranges of size of precipitates are 0.2–2 µm and 0.2–1 µm, respectively.
Accordingly, the range of size of precipitates decrease with the increase of heat treatment temperatures. The microstructures in
Figure 2 show that the grains of TiNi phase are surrounded by the continuous or discontinuous layers of Ti
3Ni
4 phase. This phenomenon is connected with the so-called complete and incomplete wetting of grain boundaries by the second solid phase both in the Ti–Fe(Co) and Ti–Fe–Sn alloys [
36,
37,
38]. A large and/or long grain of Ti
3Ni
4 phase between two β-Ti phases form continuous layers, and this phenomenon is called complete grain boundary wetting (labeled in
Figure 2a by the letter C); while multiple adjacent Ti
3Ni
4 phases precipitated on grain boundaries form the discontinuous layers, corresponding to the incomplete or partial wetting of grain boundary (labeled in
Figure 2a by the letter P). Therefore, in
Figure 2, the Ti
3Ni
4 phase forms the complete and incomplete grain boundary wetting.
3.2. Martensitic Transformation Temperature of Ti49Ni51 Alloy
In the practical aspect of Ti–Ni SMAs, a low transformation temperature can make pipe joints, and a small thermal hysteresis can make elastic and vibrator [
8]. According to the different heat-treatment conditions, Ti–Ni SMAs can undergo one-stage, two-stage, or three-stage transformation. One-stage transformation occurs mostly from the parent phase (A), with simple cubic structure (CsCl), to martensitic phase (M), with monoclinic structure (A→M); and also from A to R phase with rhomboidal structure (A→R) [
39]. The two-stage transformation is from A to R phase, and then to M phase, that is, A→R→M transformation. The three-stage transformation can be divided into two cases: One is one-stage R-phase plus two-stage M transformation (R→M1→M2); the other is two-stage R phase plus one-stage M transformation (R1→R2→M) [
39].
Figure 3 shows the DSC curves of as-cast and heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples. In
Figure 3, M and A represent martensite transformation and reverse martensite transformation, respectively; R and R′ represent R-phase and reverse R-phase transformation (rhomboidal structure), respectively. The peak temperatures of transformation during cooling and heating,
TM and
TA, represent the martensite and reverse martensite transformation temperatures, respectively. The peak temperatures of R-phase transformation during cooling and heating,
TR and
TR′, represent R-phase and inverse R-phase transformation temperatures, respectively. The measured
TM,
TA,
TR, and
TR′ values are list in
Table 1. In
Figure 3a, for the as-cast Ti
49Ni
51 alloy, the transformation types are three-stage A→R, R→M
1 and R→M
2 transformation during cooling, and the two-stage A→R→M martensitic transformation occurs during heating. In fact, during the heating, the inverse transformation of the subsequent-formed martensite phase in cooling first occurs, that is, the inverse transformation of M
2 phase occurs first, compared with the M
1 phase [
39]. Due to the inconsistency of the inverse transformation temperature between M
2→R and M
1→R, the inverse transformation peak becomes wide, or the temperature range becomes wide, as shown in
Figure 3a. In
Figure 3b, for the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy at 723 K, the two-stage A→R→M martensitic transformation occurs in the cooling stage; however, the two-stage reverse martensitic transformation is M→R→A in the heating stage. In the cooling, the
TR values of the R-phase transformation temperatures are 278.8 K for the as-cast alloy, and 279.1 K for the heat-treated alloy at 723 K, and approximately the same; however, in the heating stage, the
TR’ values of the R-phase inverse transformation temperature is 304.9 and 285.1 K, respectively, and the
TR’ value of the heat-treated alloy is shifted to the low temperature, comparing with that of the as-cast alloy. The
TM values of as-cast alloy and heat-treated alloy at 723 K are 211.4 and 189.1 K, respectively, which indicates that the
TM of the heat-treated alloy moves to a low temperature during the cooling. But, in the heating, the reverse martensitic transformation temperature increases from 241.8 K for the as-cast alloy to 265.3 K for the heat-treated alloy at 723 K. In
Figure 3c, for the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy at 773 K, the transformation type of the alloy during the cooling stage is the one-stage A→R transformation, while during heating, the inverse martensitic transformation is similar to the two-stage transformation of M→R→A. In
Figure 3d, for the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy at 823 K, the phase transformation types of the alloy during cooling and heating are the one-stage A→M and M→A transformation, respectively. For the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy at 773 K, during the cooling, the
TR value of A→R is 292.2 K, which is higher than those of the as-cast alloy and heat-treated alloy at 723 K (Seen
Table 1 and
Figure 2). The
TR′ value is equal to 300 K, which is larger than that of the heat-treated alloy at 723 K, but smaller than that of the as-cast alloy.
The A→R transformation is the transition of the parent phase to a martensite phase, and it is a transition process of a simple cubic structure (BCC) with a higher symmetry to a lower symmetrical rhombohedral structure; however, the R→M phase transformation is converted to a martensitic to martensitic transformation process (i.e., the symmetry of the lower rhombohedral structure to the transition of the monoclinic structure with a lowest symmetry) [
31]. For the as-cast and the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K, the A→R transformation fist occurs during the cooling. The reason is that the symmetry of the R-phase with the rhombohedral structure is higher than that of the monoclinic structure of M phase. When the temperature is further reduced, the R-phase transformation is shifted towards a monoclinic-structural martensitic phase with a lower symmetry, comparing with the symmetry of R phase (i.e., the R→M transformation). For the heat-treated alloy at 823 K, the content of Ti
3Ni
4 phase precipitate inside and at the grain boundary of B2 phase is obviously lower than those of the as-cast alloy and the heat-treated alloy at 723 and 773 K, as shown in
Figure 2. Accordingly, the microstructure of the heat-treated alloy at 823 K is in the state of recrystallizing, which results in the decrease of dislocation density, the decrease of martensitic transformation resistance [
31,
39], and the increase of transformation peak position. It indicates that the
TM value of the heat-treated alloy at 823 K is higher than that of the heat-treated alloy at 723 K. When the heat treatment temperature is high, the density of residual defect in the alloy decreases, the microstructure uniformity improves, and the effective position of R-phase nucleation decreases, which leads to the delay of R-phase transformation or the decrease content of R-phase transformation [
31,
39]. The R-phase transformation is not easy to be detected on the DSC curve. Accordingly, the one-stage transformation occurs in heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy at 823 K (i.e., the one-stage transformation of A→M and M→A).
The as-cast alloy and heat-treated alloy at 723 K exhibit high residual dislocation density, large residual stress, and more residual texture [
31,
39]. The interaction of these structural defects with the stress field of M transformation can inhibit the martensitic phase transformation, which results in that the martensitic transformation is delayed (i.e., the
TM value becomes low) [
20,
26]. In addition, as the stress field generated from the R-phase transformation is weaker than that generated from the M-phase transformation, the effect of the structural defect on the stress field of the R-phase transformation is small, and the inhibition of the A to R phase transformation is reduced [
31,
39]. Accordingly, the R-phase transformation takes place preferentially, that is, the
TR value is larger than the
TM value. These will result in the separation of the R-phase and the M-phase, as shown in
Figure 3a,b.
For superelastic alloys, thermal hysteresis (Δ
T) of phase transformation is a thermodynamic performance index in industrial applications [
39]. The Δ
T value is the temperature difference of the positive and negative peaks of transformation, which indicates the width of range of the operating temperature for the devices made of superelastic alloys [
39]. The larger the Δ
T value is, the wider the operating temperature range of the device is. The alloy with the larger Δ
T value is suitable for making the connection elements, and the alloy with the smaller Δ
T value is suitable for making sensors [
39]. For the heat-treated alloy at 723 K, the thermal hysteresis (Δ
TM) of M-phase transformation (76.2 K) is larger than that of the as-cast alloy (30.4 K), due to the decrease of the martensitic transformation temperature during the cooling, and the increase of the reverse transformation temperature during the heating for the heat-treated alloy at 723 K. For the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples at 723 and 773 K, the thermal hysteresis (Δ
TR) values of the R-phase transformation are 6.0 and 7.8 K, respectively, which are larger than that of as-cast alloy. The difference of two Δ
TR values for the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K is small, which indicates that the thermal hysteresis of R-phase transformation has good stability at the different heat treatment temperatures. In fact, the as-cast alloy and heat-treated alloy at 723 K have the larger thermal hysteresis, which are suitable for bonding devices. For the heat-treated alloy at 773 K, only a small thermal hysteresis is suitable for sensor devices. For the 823 K heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy, only a large thermal hysteresis is not only suitable for making junction devices, but also suitable for making sensor devices with a wide temperature range.
3.3. Mechanical Properties of the Ti49Ni51 Alloy
Figure 4 shows the first cyclic loading/unloading stress-strain curve of the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 alloy (723 K) at a strain of 7%. In
Figure 4, the initial (
σAs) and finishing (
σAf) stress of martensitic transformation, the initial (
σMs) and the finishing (
σMf) values of reverse martensitic transformation are labeled by the method of two tangents. The area defined by the unloading stress-strain curve and the strain is defined as the recoverable strain energy density (
Wr); the area enclosed by the load stress-strain curve and the unloading stress-strain curve is defined as the dissipation energy (
Wd); in the unloading process, the strain is defined as the residual strain (
εr) when the stress is equal to zero, as shown in
Figure 4.
Figure 5 shows the cyclic loading/unloading nominal stress-strain curves of as-cast and heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples at a strain of 7%. In the loading process of the as-cast Ti
49Ni
51 alloy, the
σAs values of martensitic transformation are exhibited in
Figure 5a, but the
σAf values of martensitic transformation are not found in
Figure 5a; during unloading, the stress platform of reverse martensitic transformation is not presented. For the heat-treated samples at 723 and 823 K, the stress transformation platform are exhibited in the loading and unloading processes, and the
σAs and
σAf values can be presented in
Figure 5b,d; the
σMs and
σMf values of reverse martensitic transformation can be presented during unloading. For the heat-treated alloy at 773 K, the stress transformation platform is obvious in the loading process, which indicates that the
σAs and
σAf values can be distinguished; while in the unloading process, the strain transformation platform is not observed in
Figure 5c, but the
σMs value can be calculated.
The relation of
σAs,
σAf,
σms,
σmf values calculated from
Figure 4 and cyclic loading/unloading number
(n) is shown in
Figure 6. In
Figure 6a, the
σAs values for the as-cast Ti
49Ni
51 alloy vary greatly with the
n values, while the
σAs values of the heat-treated alloy change slightly. In addition, at the same loading times, the
σAs values of the as-cast Ti
49Ni
51 sample are larger than those of the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples at three temperatures, but the
σAs values of the heat-treated Ti
49Ni
51 samples increase with the increase of the heat treatment temperatures, as shown in
Figure 6a. In
Figure 6b, the
σAf values of the heat-treated alloy at 723 K are approximately unchanged. Most of the
σAf values of the heat-treated alloy at 773 K are similar, except for a small amount of
σAf values. The
σAf values of the heat-treated alloy at 823 K change slightly from the third to the seventh time, while the
σAf values of the others change greatly. In fact, the
σAf values increase with the increase of the heat treatment temperatures.
Due to the high density of residual dislocation, large residual stress, and large residual texture of the as-cast alloy, the resistance of M-phase transformation of the B2 TiNi structure increases under compressive stress [
31], which leads to the larger initial stress and finishing stress of martensite transformation, comparing to the heat-treated alloy. Although R-phase transformation exists in as-cast alloys, it can be seen from
Figure 3 that the enthalpy of R-phase transformation is obviously smaller than that of M-phase transformation. Accordingly, the M-phase transformation is the main phase transformation in the compression process, and a small amount of R-phase transformation does not significantly reduce the initial and finishing stress of martensitic transformation. For the 723 and 773 K heat-treated samples, the dislocation density, residual stress and residual texture decrease [
31], and the main R-phase transformation occurs during the cooling process. When the compressive stresses are applied to the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K, the main R-phase transformation occurs. However, the stress field generated from the R-phase transformation is weaker than that generated from the M-phase transformation [
31], which results in that the
σAs and
σAf values of the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K are lower than the corresponding values of the as-cast sample. For the heat-treated alloy at 823 K, as the alloy is in recrystallization state, the effective position of R-phase nucleation decreases [
31], and only M-phase transformation occurs, as shown in
Figure 3d. As the stress field generated from the M-phase transformation is larger than that generated from the R-phase transformation [
31], the M-phase transformation stress is higher than the R-phase transformation stress under compressive stress, which explains that the
σAs and
σAf values of the heat-treated sample at 823 K are higher than the corresponding values of heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K.
In
Figure 6c, the
σMs values of the as-cast alloy vary greatly, while the
σMs values of the heat-treated alloy are approximately unchanged, while the
σMs values of the as-cast alloy are higher than that of
σMs values of the heat-treated alloy. In addition, the
σMs values of the heat-treated alloy increase with the increase of heat treatment temperatures. In
Figure 6d, the as-cast alloy only shows the three
σMf values from first unload to third unload, but the
σMf values of the heat-treated alloy at 773 K are not shown in
Figure 5c. The variation of
σMf values are small for the heat-treated alloy at 723 K, but the variation of
σMf values fluctuate for the 823 K heat treatment alloy. The
σMf values of the heat treatment alloy at 823 K are higher than those of the heat-treated alloy at 723 K, as shown in
Figure 6d. In fact, the as-cast and 823 K heat-treated samples have relatively large changes in stress of martensitic transformation, and weak relative stability, which indicates that the as-cast and 823 K heat-treated samples are the hyperelastic materials with poor stability; the stress of the martensitic transformation for the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K changes slightly, and have relatively high stability, which indicates that the two heat-treated samples are the hyperelastic materials with good stability.
Figure 7 shows the relation between the calculated
σmax,
εr,
Wd,
Wr values, and cyclic loading/unloading number (
n). In
Figure 7a, the
σmax values of the as-cast alloy increase with the increase of loading times, increasing from 781 MPa in the first cycle to 1117 MPa in the tenth cycle, and increasing approximately linearly from the sixth cycle, resulting in that the linear increase of maximum stress can easily cause plastic deformation of the sample. For the heat-treated alloy at 773 K, with the increase of cycle times, the
σmax values increase rapidly at first, then slowly, and finally tend to be stable, which improves the safety during cyclic loading and unloading. Under the 723 and 823 K heat-treatment conditions, the
σmax values of the alloy decrease slowly, and during the whole cycle, those values decrease slightly, and finally tend to be stable.
Figure 7b shows the relation between the
εr and
n values. For the as-cast alloy, the
εr values decreases rapidly from the first time to the sixth time, then tends to be stable, and are less than 0.2%. The
εr values of the heat-treated alloy at 723 K increase from 0.06% to 0.37% with the increase of cycle times. In fact, the increase is small. In addition, for the heat-treated samples at 773 and 823 K, a small
εr value appears for the first time, and the
εr values are equal to zero for the rest of the cycles. It shows that the content of martensitic transformation is approximately equal to that of reverse phase transformation under loading and unloading conditions.
Figure 7c shows the relation between the
Wd and
n values. The
Wd values of the as-cast sample are larger than those of the heat-treated samples, while the
Wd values of the 823 K heat-treated sample are significantly smaller than those of the as-cast sample and heat-treated samples at 723 and 774 K. The
Wd values of the 823 K heat-treated alloy begin to decrease rapidly with the increase of cycle number, and slowly decline from the fourth time; the
Wd value of the 723 K heat-treated alloy decrease rapidly between the first and second time, slowly decline from the second time, and finally change slightly, and tend to be stable. The
Wd values of the 773 K heat-treated alloy decrease slowly, and finally stabilize during the whole cycle. These results show that the
Wd values of the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K are relatively stable, though smaller than those of the as-cast sample. As the
σmax values of the as-cast alloy increase gradually, the small plastic deformation occurs during the final cyclic loading process, as shown in
Figure 5a. Although there are the large
Wd values of the as-cast alloy, it has low safety in application. As the
σmax values tend to be stable for the 723 and 773 K heat-treated samples with a large
Wd value, the safety of the heat-treated samples is higher than that of the as-cast sample in application. Because the residual strain tends to zero in the 823 K heat-treated alloy, the smaller dissipated energy can be used in the working environment, where the dissipated energy requirement is not high.
Figure 7d shows the relation between the
Wr values and the number of cycles. The
Wr values of the as-cast sample increase with the increase of cycle times, and are larger than those of the heat-treated samples at 723 and 773 K. For the 823 K heat-treated alloy, the
Wr values decrease slowly with the increase of cycle number, and tend to remain unchanged at last. For the 723 K heat-treated alloy, the
Wr values change slightly or tend to be stable during the whole cycle. For the 773 K heat-treated alloy, the
Wr values change slightly from the second time, and finally tend to be stable. Therefore, the
Wr values of the heat-treated samples are more stable than those of the as-cast sample. In fact, the samples treated at 773 and 823 K have relatively stable strain–energy densities, and are a good superelastic alloy.