Ni-Ti alloys are considered to be very important shape memory alloys with a wide application area including, e.g., biomaterials, actuators, couplings, and components in automotive, aerospace, and robotics industries. In this study, the NiTi46 (wt.%) alloy was prepared by a combination of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis, milling, and spark plasma sintering consolidation at three various temperatures. The compacted samples were subsequently heat-treated at temperatures between 400 °C and 900 °C with the following quenching in water or slow cooling in a closed furnace. The influence of the consolidation temperature and regime of heat treatment on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and temperatures of phase transformation was evaluated. The results demonstrate the brittle behaviour of the samples directly after spark plasma sintering at all temperatures by the compressive test and no transformation temperatures at differential scanning calorimetry curves. The biggest improvement of mechanical properties, which was mainly a ductility enhancement, was achieved by heat treatment at 700 °C. Slow cooling has to be recommended in order to obtain the shape memory properties.

COMTES FHT Prumyslova 995 334 41 Dobrany Czech Republic

Department of Metals and Corrosion Engineering University of Chemistry and Technology Technická 5 166 28 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Department of Physics of Materials Charles University Ke Karlovu 5 121 16 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering Department of Materials Czech Technical University Prague Trojanova 13 120 00 Prague 2 Czech Republic

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