Fracture in single crystal NiTi

This paper presents an investigation of the pseudoelastic transformation of two crystallographic orientations of a single crystal NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA). Both uniaxial tension and notched tension samples are considered with the tensile axes along the [1 0 0] and [1 1 1] directions. The phase transformation is observed using optical techniques in situ. For the uniaxial tension samples, martensite plates and Lüders-band structures are observed. For the notched samples, transformation structures in the [1 0 0] sample appeared predominantly on the sides of the notch and crack tip with stable crack propagation. In the [1 1 1] notched samples transformation occurs directly ahead of the notch and unstable crack propagation is observed. An available work criterion is used to predict the location of the transformation, with good agreement to the experimental observations. The different fracture behavior of the two notched sample orientations is explained utilizing the available work calculations.