Thermomechanical Behaviors of Ultrathin NiTi Wires for Application in Smart Textiles
Dr. Petr Sittner1, Vaclav Novak1, Ludek Heller1, Dr. Michal Landa2 and Petr Sedlak2, 1Institute of Physics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, Prague, 128221, Czech Republic, 2Institute of Thermomechanics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejskova 5, Prague, 1800, Czech Republic

Functional properties of NiTi are very sensitive to the chemical composition and thermomechanical treatments, which affect their thermodynamic characteristics and microstructure. Some novel engineering applications (e.g. smart textiles with NiTi wires) require usage of ultrathin wires (d<20mm). These wires have become available only recently. Compared to the standard wires, they commonly have finer microstructure, exhibit different properties (e.g. higher strength and flat plateaus) and require usage of special experimental equipments. In this work, selected experimental results achieved in frame of a recently started research program focused on NiTi thin wires and smart textiles are reported. Two basic kinds of tests - thermal cycling at constant stress level and stress-strain cycling in tension at constant temperatures – were performed on several thin NiTi wires. Electric resistance and propagation speed of acoustic waves were measured during the tests. Two earlier developed models of NiTi thermomechanical behaviours were updated to capture the observed responses.

 

Session 8: Thermal Mechanical Fatigue

The Preliminary Program for The International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies (May 7-11, 2006)