Strain dependence of pseudoelastic hysteresis of NiTi

This work investigated the transformation-strain dependence of the stress hysteresis of pseudoelasticity associated with the stress-induced martensitic transformation in binary NiTi alloys. The strain dependence was studied with respect to the deformation mode during the stress-induced martensitic transformation, which was either localized or homogeneous. It was observed that the apparent stress hysteresis of pseudoelasticity was independent of the transformation strain within the macroscopic deformation range, for the specimens deformed in a localized manner. For specimens macroscopically deformed uniformly, the stress hysteresis of pseudoelasticity increased continuously with increasing strain from the beginning of the stress-induced martensitic transformation. The transformation-strain independence of the stress hysteresis for localized deformation is ascribed to be an artificial phenomenon, whereas the transformation-strain dependence of the hysteresis for uniform deformation is believed to be intrinsic to the process of stress-induced martensitic transformation in polycrystalline material. This intrinsic behavior is attributed to the polycrystallinity of the materials.