Electrical resistance and deformation during the stress-assisted two-way memory effect in Ni45Ti50Cu5 alloy

The electrical resistance detected during the stress-assisted two-way memory effect in Ni45Ti50Cu5 alloy was investigated to discover the maximum stress levels required to avoid plastic deformation. Electrically driven P → M → P cycles were performed on Ni45Ti50Cu5 specimens preliminarily submitted to different cold-work levels with the aim of modifying the critical resolved shear stress for plastic deformation. A linear relationship between the variation in electrical resistance and deformation across the stress-assisted transformation can be obtained at stress levels below 150 MPa. Results show that the electronic contribution to the variation in electrical resistance is definitely lower than the contribution related to oriented variants.