Wire drawing and functional characterization of thin NiTi wires

NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) shows unique properties, the so called “shape memory effect” (SME) and “superelasticity” (SE), which have been applied with success in several biomedical applications and many other devices; smart actuators or SE antennas among them. New applications, based on SMA properties could be developed by integrating low dimension SMA wires in fabric products. In this case very thin NiTi material, with controlled characteristics, is required for textile processing.
In this work an experimental drawing equipment was tested to manufacturing SE and SME NiTi wires with diameter down to 30 microns. Drawing procedures were optimized and the process parameters were correlated with the functional properties of NiTi products. Material characterization was carried out throughout DSC, DMA, Stress-Strain and SEM analyses.
This work was developed in the framework of AVALON Project an European Community project NMP2-CT-2005-515813-2