ABSTRACT
Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloys (SMAs) can provide a thermal memory (one-way effect) and a mechanical memory (pseudoelasticity) which both allow a reversible deformation of the material up to 6% strain. The shape memory effect relies on the martensitic phase transformation. On cooling from the high temperature phase austenite (B2), a SMA starts to transform at the martensite start temperature MS into martensite (B19’). At MF, the transformation is completed (martensite finish temperature). During subsequent heating, the reverse transformation starts at AS and finishes at AF (austenite start and finish temperatures respectively). While NiTi SMAs are becoming increasingly successful for commercial and special engineering applications, laser assisted near-net-shape processing of NiTi has received less attention so far (Clare et al. 2007, Krishna et al. 2007, Chalker et al. 2006, Malukhin & Ehmann 2006, Shishkovsky 2005).
