The production and characterization of pressure controlled Cu-based shape memory alloys

In this work, the structural evolations and thermal behavior of Cu- 22,90 Al - 4,87 Mn - 0,90 Ni (% at.) quaternary shape memory alloy, which was produced by are melting, were investigated by applying different pressure values. For these investigations, X-Ray analysis, optical microscope observations, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods were used. The crystal structure and difraction planes of the samples were determined by X-Ray measurements. The structure of the samples according to applying different pressure values was investigated by optical microscope analysis at room temperature. The phase transitions from low temperature to high temperature were determined by DTA measurements. The characteristic phase transition temperatures as Ms, Mf, As and Af were determined by DSC measurements. It was found that the crystal structur of the samples are ortotombic according X-Ray analysis results. As a result of the calculations, the a, b and c parameters of the crystal structure were calculated and it was observed that the value of a parameter increased and the values of b and c parameters decreased. Besides this, the crystal size were determined by using Debye-Scherer equation. In optical microscopy observations, it was observed that the martensite formation was decreased by the increase of pressure value and there was no martensite formation observed in last pressure value. The phase transitions were determined by DTA analysis and phase transitions occured in the format A2→B2→18R or A2→B2→L21→18R. The martensite and austenite phase transformation temperatures were determined by DSC. It was observed that, the phase transitions temperatures increased by the increase of pressure value. But the sample which 560 MPa pressure applied,not give the desined result due to the bigger crystal size according to other samples. At last pressure value it was seen that no transformation occured.