Electron irradiation effect on the reverse phase transformation temperatures in TiNi shape memory alloy thin films

In this work, Ti-Ni shape memory alloy thin films were irradiated by I.7MeV electron with three types of fluences: 4 x 10(20) 7x 10(20) and 1 X 10(21)/m(2). The influence of electron irradiation on the transformation behavior of the TiNi thin films were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The transformation temperatures A(s) and A(f) shifted to higher temperature after electron irradiation, the martensite was stabilized. The electron irradiation effect can be easily eliminated by one thermal cycle. The shifts of the transformation temperatures can be explained from the change of potential energy barrier and coherency energy between parent phase and martensite after irradiation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.