Fracture of Shape Memory Alloys

The initiation and the propagation of cracks during both quenching and deformation in polycrystalline Cu-Al-Ni alloys have been investigated under various conditions. The fracture surfaces of Ti-Ni and Cu-Al-Ni alloys were also observed by a scanning electron microscope. From these results, it was concluded that the brittleness of Cu-Al-Ni alloy and other β phase alloys are due to large elastic anisotropy and large grain sizes, while that the large ductility in Ti-Ni alloy being due to the small elastic anisotropy and the small grain size