In situ neutron diffraction investigation of texture-dependent Shape Memory Effect in a near equiatomic NiTi alloy

Abstract To explore the possibility of customising the functional behaviour of NiTi shape memory alloy via controlling texture, binary Ni55Ti45 (wt.%) alloys were manufactured in as cast and hot swaged conditions, presenting contrasting initial texture and macroscopic performance. In situ time-of-flight neutron diffraction technique was employed to study the texture effect on the microstructural evolution during Shape Memory Effect (SME), and a range of properties were evaluated. It was found that (i) hot swaging process leads to change in grain morphology and increase in microstrain; (ii) thermal expansion coefficients of martensite and austenite variants were weakly affected by the texture and phase transformation constraint; (iii) significant texture effect on the elastic properties at both macro- and micro-scale was quantified by Elasto-Plastic Self-Consistent (EPSC) modelling approach, while the anisotropic elastic moduli lie within the range of single crystal state and twinned structure; (iv) texture evolution during SME is weakly related to the initial microstructure; (v) martensite reoriented so that the axis became aligned parallel to the loading direction, and retained this orientation upon unloading, revealing the underlying correlation between texture evolution and detwinning. Based on the experimental results, a multi-variant model was proposed to quantify the lattice strain evolution during SME. Validity of the conceptually simple and parametrically parsimonious model was confirmed by validation against experimental data.