Abstract
In the last twenty years Reversible Shape-Memory (RSM) alloys have become the source of considerable technological interest as a result of their ability to generate spontaneous and reversible changes of shape on thermal cycling. This has led to the development of a range of reversible shape-memory devices for thermostatic sensing applications. In these devices the alloy is subjected to several thousand shape-memory cycles and the stability of the reversible shape-memory is therefore an important alloy property. Data on the effect of shape-memory cycling on the long-term stability of the reversible shape-memory, however, is extremely limited. The present work, conducted to fill this gap, has shown that there is an inherent instability in the reversible shape-memory, with changes in the operating temperatures and cumulative reductions in the maximum shape-strain output of actuators on long-term thermal cycling under conditions simulating real devices. Extensive investigation has shown that these instabilities result from a number of sources, ageing of the shape-memory martensites and most importantly from morphological disruptions in the "trained" martensites caused by two-stage stress-induced transformation and due to the build-up of transformation-induced dislocation debris. This shape-strain degradation has also been successfully modelled by means of a simple two-stage stress-induced martensitic transformation model.