Biochemistry, Chemistry & Physics: Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-20-2026

Publication Title

Crystals

DOI

10.3390/cryst16030211

Abstract

Elastocaloric cooling, which leverages stress-induced phase transformation in shape memory materials, represents a sustainable and energy-efficient alternative to conventional vapor-compression cooling systems. Central to optimizing these materials is understanding how thermal processing history dictates phase formation, microstructure, and thermal properties. In this study, we investigated the (Ni50Mn31.5Ti18)99.8B0.2 compound synthesized via vacuum induction melting and arc melting, followed by water quenching. Induction melting results in needle-like, boron-rich precipitates within the martensite lattice. In contrast, vacuum arc melting promoted precipitate growth at the grain boundaries. The vacuum arc melting sample exhibits ~82% martensite phase fraction, a near-ambient transformation temperature of ~277 K, a large transition entropy change of ~75 J·kg−1·K−1, and moderate thermal hysteresis of ~24 K. These results underscore the pivotal role of thermal history in tailoring phase stability and transformation thermodynamics, providing essential design guidelines for subsequent mechanical performance optimization in elastocaloric shape memory alloys for energy-efficient and sustainable thermal management applications.

Comments

Georgia Southern University faculty member, Na Liu and Wenjie Li co-authored "Microstructural Evolution and Precipitate Control in Boron-Doped Ni-Mn-Ti Shape Memory Alloys via Thermal Processing"

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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