Superelasticity of [001]-oriented Fe42·6Ni27.9Co17·2Al9.9Nb2.4 ferrous shape memory alloys

Abstract

The shape memory properties of a ferrous single crystalline alloy, FeNiCoAlNb, were investigated along the [100] orientation by superelasticity tests in both tension and compression. Aging was used to form nano-size precipitates to demonstrate and tailor their shape memory properties. After aging at 700 ˚C for 3 hours, [001]-oriented FeNiCoAlNb shows high compression-tension asymmetry and shape recovery of about 4.5 % in tension and 8.8 % in compression. The superelastic behavior of [001]-oriented FeNiCoAlNb is weakly temperature dependent due to large transformation strain. FeNiCoAlNb has great potential for temperature independent and large scale actuator applications.