Thermal and transport properties of as-grown Ni-rich TiNi shape memory alloys

• Thermal transport properties on Ni-rich TiNi shape memory alloys were studied.
• Seebeck coefficient of Ni-rich TiNi alloys shows a typical metallic behavior.
• Strain glass transition is found to be present in the high Ni-rich TiNi alloys.
• Excess Ni in TiNi leads to a reduction in martensitic transition temperature.
• The observed anomaly in the κ(T) is mainly due to the phonon thermal conductivity.

Electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, specific heat and thermal conductivity measurements on the Ti50−xNi50+x (x = 0.0–1.6 at.%) shape memory alloys are performed to investigate their thermal and transport properties. In this study, anomalous features are observed in both cooling and heating cycles in all measured physical properties of the slightly Ni-rich TiNi alloys (x ≤ 1.0), corresponds to the transformation between the B19′ martensite and B2 austenite phases. Besides, the transition temperature is found to decrease gradually with increasing Ni content, and the driving force for the transition is also found to diminish slowly with the addition of excess Ni, as revealed by specific heat measurements. While the signature of martensitic transformation vanishes for the Ni-rich TiNi alloys with x ≥ 1.3, the characteristics of strain glass transition start to appear. The Seebeck coefficients of these TiNi alloys were found to be positive, suggesting the hole-type carriers dominate the thermoelectric transport. From the high-temperature Seebeck coefficients, the estimated value of Fermi energy ranges from ∼1.5 eV (Ti48.4Ni51.6) to ∼2.1 eV (Ti50Ni50), indicating the metallic nature of these alloys. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the slightly Ni-rich TiNi alloys with x ≤ 1.0 shows a distinct anomalous feature at the B19′ → B2 transition, likely due to the variation in lattice thermal conductivity.