Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:16:58.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Direct Measurement of the Nanoscale Mechanical Properties of NiTi Shape Memory Alloy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Gordon A. Shaw
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A.
Wendy C. Crone
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

The mechanical properties of sputter-deposited NiTi shape memory alloy thin films ranging in thickness from 35 nm to 10 μm were examined using nanoindentation and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Indents made in films as thin as 150 nm showed partial shape recovery upon heating, although film thickness was found to have a marked effect on the results. A modified spherical cavity model is used to describe the findings, which suggest that the substrate tends block the shape memory effect as film thickness decreases below a threshold level which is specific to applied load. This has the net effect of decreasing the indent recovery below the critical film thickness. The fact that the spherical cavity model predicts the critical film thickness at which the shape memory effect is blocked indicates that the increased recovery of nanoscale indentations is due to a suppression of plastic processes rather than an enhancement of shape memory processes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Otsuka, K.; Wayman, C. M. Shape Memory Materials; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1999.Google Scholar
2. Gall, K.; Juntunen, K.; Maier, H. J.; Sehitoglu, H.; Chumlyakov, Y. I., Instrumented micro-indentation of NiTi SMAs. Acta. Mater., 493205–3217, 2001.Google Scholar
3. Gall, K.; Dunn, M. L.; Liu, Y.; Labossiere, P.; Sehitoglu, H.; Chumlyakov, Y. I., Micro and macro deformation of single crystal NiTi. J. Eng. Mat. Tech, 124238–245, 2002.Google Scholar
4. Oliver, W. C.; Pharr, G. M., An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. Journal of Materials Research, 7(6), pp. 15641583, 1992.Google Scholar
5. Wangyang, N.; Cheng, Y.; Grummon, D., Recovery of Microindents in a Nickel-Titanium SMA… App. Phys. Lett, 80(18), pp. 33103312, 2002.Google Scholar
6. Shaw, G. A.; Stone, D. S.; Johnson, A. D.; Ellis, A. B.; Crone, W. C., Shape memory effect in nanoindentation of nickel-titanium thin films. Applied Physics Letters, 83(2), pp. 257259, 2003.Google Scholar
7. Crone, W. C.; Shaw, G. A.; Stone, D. S.; Johnson, A. D.; Ellis, A. B., Shape Recovery after Nanoindentation of NiTi Thin Films. Proceedings of the SEM Annual Conference on Experimental Mechanics, 1271–6, 2003.Google Scholar
8. Ma, X.-G.; Komvopoulos, K., Nanoscale pseudoelastic behavior of indented titanium-nickel films. Applied Physics Letters, 83(18), pp. 37733775, 2003.Google Scholar
9. Johnson, K. L. Contact Mechanics; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1994, p. 175.Google Scholar
10. Fu, Y.; Huang, W.; Du, H.; Huang, X.; Tan, J.; Gao, X., Characterization of TiNi SMA thin films for MEMS applications. Surf. Coat. Technol., 145, 107112, 2001.Google Scholar