Temperature memory effect of a nickel-titanium shape memory alloy

An incomplete transformation cycle induces a kinetic stop in the following complete transformation cycle in shape memory alloys. Therefore, the kinetic stop can be regarded as a memory of the previous arrest temperature. Herein, we show that the temperature memory effect of a nickel-titanium shape memory alloy can be expanded to be operational in a very wide temperature range by prestraining and constraining, which may be exploited for various practical applications. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.