Shape memory alloys (SMA) are a kind of metallic materials with the characteristics of returning to the previously defined shapes when subjected to some appropriate thermal procedure. Just because of its particular functional properties, especially the shape memory effect (SME) and superelasticity (SE), shape memory alloys have attracted wide attention. It was Chang and Read who first observed the unique memory effect of shape memory alloys in Au 47.5 at % Cd alloy early in 1951 (Chang and Read, Trans AIME 189:47–52, 1951). But it was not until 1963 when Buehler and his co-workers (Buehler and Gilfrich, J Appl Phys 34:1475–1477, 1963) rediscovered the SME in equiatomic Ni-Ti that SMAs actually began to cause a great deal of commercial interest, especially after they were widely put into use in the field of medicine (Dai and Chu, Biomed Mater Eng 6:233–240, 1996; Chu et al., Mater Sci Forum 327:55–62, 2000; Van Humbeeck, Mater Sci Eng (A)273–5:134–148, 1999). Although quite a number of alloys are known to show shape memory behavior, only those that could generate substantial amounts of strain or could generate significant force upon the changing shape so as to make it recover are of commercial value. In the medical field, the family of Ni-Ti alloys is the most popular one that gets wide clinical application, owing to its good biocompatibility, substantial resistance to corrosion and fatigue, and the fact that its elastic modulus is quite close to that of human bone. In some cases, Ni or Ti (only a few per cent) in Ni-Ti alloys can be partially replaced by Cu, Co, Fe, Nb, or Mo to improve the hysteresis (stress and/or temperature hysteresis), corrosion behavior, control of transformation temperatures, fatigue behavior, etc.
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