Enhanced ion irradiation resistance of bulk nanocrystalline TiNi alloy

Bulk ordered nanocrystalline Ti49.4Ni50.6 alloys with a grain size of 23–31 nm were prepared using severe plastic deformation. Nanocrystalline and coarse-grained alloys were subjected to 1.5 MeV Ar+ ion irradiation at room temperature. At the same damage dose the nanocrystalline alloy retained the long-range order while the coarse-grained counterpart was amorphized. In contrast to former irradiation studies, fully dense nanocrystalline materials are used in the present study for the first time.