The Assessment of Physical and Mechanical Property Variability in a New Generation of Low Inclusion NiTi Alloy

A new generation of commercial scale, low inclusion Nitinol material has been developed and subjected to a comprehensive robustness protocol to assess process variability and stability of physical and mechanical properties.

Eighteen total ingots were produced in three separate melting campaigns of six ingots each. The six ingots of each campaign were melted consecutively to assess heat to heat variability. The three melting campaigns were separated by at least one month to verify process stability over time. Microcleanliness testing in longitudinal and transverse orientations, TTR by DSC and mechanical properties are reported for each series of ingots and compared among the campaigns. The fatigue properties of this new generation of Nitinol will be presented in a separate talk.