Shape Memory and Mechanical Properties of Cold Rolled and Annealed Fe-17Mn-5Si-5Cr-4Ni-1Ti-0.3C Alloy

In the present study, the shape, memory, and mechanical properties of cold-rolled and annealed Fe-17Mn-5Si-5Cr-4Ni-1Ti-0.3C (wt.%) alloy were investigated. The cold-rolled alloy was annealing heat-treated at different temperatures in the range of 500–900 °C for 30 min. The shape recovery behavior of the alloy was investigated using strip bending test followed by recovery heating. The microstructural evolution and the stress-strain response of the alloy heat-treated at different temperatures revealed that the recovery took place at a heat-treatment temperature higher than 600 °C. Recrystallization occurred when the heat-treatment temperature was higher than 800 °C. Meaningful shape recovery was observed only when the alloy was annealed at temperatures higher than 600 °C. The highest recovery strain of up to 2.56% was achieved with a pre-strain of 5.26% and recovery heating temperature of 400 °C, when the alloy was heat-treated at 700 °C. Conversely, the yield strength reduced significantly with increasing annealing heat-treatment temperature. The experimental observations presented in this paper provide a guideline for post-annealing heat-treatment when a good compromise between mechanical property and shape recovery performance is required.