Microstructure and Thermal Analyses of Cu87-xAl13Nbx High-Temperature Shape Memory Alloys

This paper presents a thermal and microstructural characterization of Cu87-xAl13Nbx (wt%) high temperature shape memory alloys (HTSMA), with Nb contents ranging from 1 to 3%. The alloys were obtained by arc melting under argon atmosphere. Thermal characterization was performed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), revealing that the phase martensitic transformation of all the studied alloys occurs in the range of 200 ºC to 450 ºC. Thermal cycling in this temperature range caused the martensitic transformation to disappear after approximately 6 cycles. However, a new heat treatment at 8...