Potential of superelastic Cu-Al-Mn alloy bars for seismic applications

We present the results of the quasi-static cyclic tensile tests of Cu-Al-Mn shape memory alloy (SMA) bars of 4 and 8 mm diameters to examine their superelasticity and other mechanical properties closely related to seismic applications. The present Cu-Al-Mn SMA bars have achieved the recovery strains of over 8% and the fracture strains of over 17%. Low-cycle fatigue was observed in neither of the bars. The mechanical properties obtained from the test, along with the lower material cost and higher machinability than Ni-Ti SMAs, demonstrate the high potential of the present Cu-Al-Mn SMA bars to be used in seismic applications. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.