NiTiCu Property Study And Its Advantages Over NiTi Alloy

Difficulties :Incorporation of NiTi thin films could not be incorporated in microelectrochemical systems because they have large deformation and recovery forces. Since they are shape memory alloys they show cute compositional sensitivity that means that a small in compositional shift causes a large transformation temperature change. The above problem can be solved by substituting copper (<25 at%) for nickel in NiTi significantly which reduces compositional sensitivity.

Comparitive study of crystallisation tempature:For comparison NiTi samples with same amount of Ti(50.4%) since copper substitutes for Ni. With 1m deposited on silicon wafers both NiTiCu and NiTi films were tested to 550c at the rates of 50,20and 10 c/min using differential scanning calorimetry. The following graph is obtained:

The schematic drawn graph shows crystallisation temperatures and overall activation energy of NiTi and NiTiCu thin films under different heating rates with pek crystallisation temperature indicated.

Pictures obtained from TEM :

However results obtained from TEM are markedly different and contradicting for that obtained from DSC technique.This is because of the fact shown at various stages of crystallisation (1,30,100%) for isothermal anneals at 480,500,520 degree celcius.

Study of the nucleation rate:

1) NiTi crystallised polymorphically with nucleation occuring rapidly and continuously. ( 0.8 1.6 micro meters) 2) NiTiCu thin film crystallize with fewer nuclei that produce a small number of crystals ( 5- 8 micro meters).

Time Duration:NiTi 475O C 495O C 515O C NiTiCu 480OC 500OC 520OC

210SECS 107SECS 11SECS

800SECS 280SECS 31SECS

Activation energy measurement by lissinger method :-

=heating rate C = constant TP= crystallization peak temperature

Hot tensile properties of as cast NiTi and NiTiCu shape memory alloys were investigated by hot tensile test at temperature range of 700-1100 C using the strain rate of 0.1 s1. The NiTi alloy exhibited a maximum hot ductility at temperature range of 750-1000C, while the NiTiCu alloy showed it at temperature range of 800-10000C. It was found that at temperatures less than 750C, diffusion-assisted deformation mechanism was inactive leading to semi-brittle type of failure and limited ductility in both alloys. Also it was found that at temperature range of 800-1000C, dynamic

recrystallization is dominant leading to high ductility. Likewise, the fracture surface of the specimens presenting the maximum hot ductility showed an ideal type of ductile rupture in which they gradually pulled out to a fine point. On the other hand, the decline in ductility occurred at the temperatures above 1000 C was attributed to the liquid phase formation leading to inter-dendritic and inter-granular type of fracture

Thermal efficiencies of NiTiCu shape memory alloys:Thermal efficiencies were calculated based on an ideal shape-memory-effect heat-engine cycle. It was found that the addition of copper in the NiTi shapememory alloy provides an important increase of the thermal efficiency with the highest temperature transformation range. Thermal efficiency values obtained range from 4.7 to 5.3% and Carnot efficiencies were around 25%. These efficiencies have been evaluated by means of calorimetric techniques and mechanical tests for five NiTiCu shape-memory alloys.

Materials used and experimental data:

Five polycrystalline NiTiCu alloys were investigated with chemical compositions shown in Table 1. Table 1. Chemical compositions in weight percentage for the different alloys studied

For the calorimetric studies, cylindrical test samples 5 mm in diameter, 2 mm high and weighing 400 mg. were submitted to heat treatment (850C for 10 min and, subsequently, quenched in water at room temperature). The calorimetric measurements were performed twenty-four hours after the heat treatment. The flow calorimeter used is a highly sensitive model with differential signal detectors made up of 32 thermocouples, the working range of which is from 150 to 100C. The temperature was measured by the standard Pt-100 probe. All signals were digitised by a multichannel analyser and treated by a computer. The heating and cooling rates were 1C/min. The uncertainty of the

enthalpy and entropy variations is 5% and 0.5K in temperature values. The transformation temperatures are taken to be the moment at which a sudden rise in the calorimetric curve takes place and when the signal returns to the base line. The heat absorbed or expelled in the transformation is determined by calculating the area within the curve. The mechanical tests were carried out 24h after the heat treatment using an MTSAdamel machine at different temperatures (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 70C). The cross-head speed was 1mm/s. A submersible extensometer was used in the tensile tests.

Experimental values and discusiions on it:-

Table 3. Transformation temperatures determined by calorimetry and by extrapolating the linear equation to the origin, in K

Table 4. Equilibrium temperatures and enthapies associated with SIM transformation

The addition of Cu (56% in weight percentage) in NiTi produced an increase in

the thermal and the Carnot efficiencies. Small changes of the chemical composition of NiTiCu alloys did not affect their martensitic tranformation characteristics in comparison with other shape-memory alloys. This stability produces an increase in the stability and reproducibility of the properties of these alloys producing an important improvement to design new shape-memory effect heat engines.

Conclusions:Higher growth rate for NiTiCu with low crystallization rate due to high interfacial energy between the amorphous and crystalline phases. The interfacial energy play a dominant role in the crystallisation of copper containing NiTi thin films This study helps us in understanding of SMA as tailoring materialsfor use in MEMs