Shape-memory alloys changing part configuration at heating, as well as preserving their elasticity at up to 8-10 % deformation, are becoming ever wider applied in industrial products and apparatuses as thermally-activated elements. Commercial application of alloys of Cu-Al system instead of well-studied alloy of Ti-Ni system (nitinol) allows lowering product cost and expanding the application area up to high temperatures (about 400 °C). Widening the range of products with elements from shape-memory alloys requires studying the possibility of joining metals of this system with structural metals, in particular, with stud-type fasteners. Proceeding from available experience, joints of studs from low-carbon steel of St.3 grade and 12Kh18N9T stainless steel, as well as L63 brass and AMg3 aluminium alloy produced by the methods of arc-contact welding by a capacitor discharge and by DC pulse were studied. Good results were obtained at capacitor welding of studs from the above materials, except for AMg3. The latter is attributable to greater mismatch of thermophysical properties of the metals joined. In DC welding, strong joints were produced only with studs from St.3 steel, because of greater time of welding. It is shown that pulsed welding methods enable preserving functional properties of parts from shape-memory alloys. Inhomogeneity of butt metal structure was found in dissimilar metal welding, which is attributable to short-time existence of the melt (incomplete mixing) and heterogeneity and non-simultaneity of joint cluster solidification. A positive consequence of that is absence of brittle intermetallics of FeAl 3 type in the butt and preservation of ductility at deformation of joints with steel studs. 5 Ref., 1 Table, 9 Figures.
K e y w o r d s : shape-memory alloys, copper-aluminium alloys, arc-contact welding, structural materials, thermoelastic martensitic transformationModern technology is increasingly interested in application of materials with special properties, allowing development of devices, self-activating at the change of external conditions. Specific characteristics of such materials enable simplifying the design, and consequently, improving the operating reliability of machine activators. Such materials include, in particular, shape-memory alloys (SMA).These alloys attract growing interest in different sectors of industry, medicine and culture, owing to the possibility of practical utilization of their thermoelastic characteristic, namely their ability to recover the preset shape at heating, after deformation in the cold state. In addition to thermoelasticity (form change under the impact of stresses, arising at crystallographic transformations), these alloys are also characterized by widely applied properties of superelasticity, namely preservation of elastic properties at relatively high deformations.From the large number of known shape-memory alloys, the best studied and the most widely accepted now are alloys based on two systems, namely Ti-Ni and Cu-Al. Each of them has its advantages and dis...