Method for determining parameters of two-way shape memory effect in amorphous-crystalline TiNiCu alloy ribbons

This article addresses an urgent challenge in the development of effi cient micromechanical tools for the manipulation of microobjects related to microelectromechanical systems. Recently, layered amorphous-crystalline ribbons of rapidly quenched TiNiCu alloy exhibiting a two-way shape memory effect have been successfully used to create microtweezers. The study outlines a method and presents an original experimental setup designed to determine the parameters associated with the two-way shape memory effect in such ribbons. The thermomechanical properties of an amorphous-crystalline composite, characterized by an amorphous layer thickness of 25 μm and a crystalline layer thickness of 7 μm, produced by melt spinning technique, were investigated. The effect of multiple thermal cycles in the shape memory effect temperature range was studied. The maximum reversible bending strain observed in the ribbon exceeds 0.2 %, which facilitates the development of micromechanical devices such as microtweezers. An increase in the number of thermal cycles from 1 to 100 resulted in a signifi cant enhancement of the reversible strain (by approximately 1.2 times) and a nearly twofold reduction in the temperature hysteresis associated with the two-way shape memory effect. The characteristic temperatures exhibited minimal variation, with the exception of the onset temperature of shape change during cooling, which showed a marked increase. The results obtained make it possible to improve the functional characteristics of micromechanical devices, based on amorphous-crystalline TiNiCu alloy ribbons by increasing their reliability and operational speed, as well as reducing their dimensions.

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