Influence of a short thermal treatment on the superelastic properties of a titanium-based alloy

The effect of a very short aging treatment (360 s at 873 K) on the superelastic properties has been investigated on the ternary Ti20Nb-6Zr (at.%) titanium-based alloy. Such short thermal treatment is shown to be an efficient way to obtain a recrystallized microstructure with ultrafine p grains of about 1-2 mu m. In addition, the associated mechanical properties display an outstanding improvement in superelastic properties, with 3.2% of elastic recovery combined with high tensile strength of around 750 MPa. (C) 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.