Influence of a short thermal treatment on the superelastic properties of a titanium-based alloy

The effect of a very short aging treatment (360 s at 873 K) on the superelastic properties has been investigated on the ternary Ti–20Nb–6Zr (at.%) titanium-based alloy. Such short thermal treatment is shown to be an efficient way to obtain a recrystallized microstructure with ultrafine β grains of about 1–2 μm. In addition, the associated mechanical properties display an outstanding improvement in superelastic properties, with 3.2% of elastic recovery combined with high tensile strength of around 750 MPa.