Superelastic property induced by low-temperature heating of a shape memory Ti-24Nb-0.5Si biomedical alloy

In this study, we have explored a new way to obtain a superelastic titanium-based alloy. Contrary to the classical method, which consists of obtaining the beta microstructure directly by water quenching from the high-temperature beta-phase domain, this way consists of obtaining first a shape memory alloy displaying a fully alpha '' martensitic microstructure and then producing superelastic behavior by applying low-temperature heating. (C) 2014 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.