Properties of rapidly annealed Ti50Ni25Cu25 melt-spun ribbon

The initially amorphous Ti50Ni25Cu25 melt-spun ribbon was crystallized through rapid thermal annealing treatment at a heating rate of 50 °C/s. The ribbon is fully crystallized after annealing at 500 °C for only 10 s and shows good superelasticity and shape memory effect. The properties of the ribbon reached a stable state when the annealing time is around 60 s. The present research shows that annealing at 500 °C for short duration is important to achieve good properties from initially amorphous melt-spun ribbon. The reason is discussed based on the evolution of the microstructures.