Damping Capacity of Ti–Nb Shape Memory Alloys Evaluated Through DMA and Single-Impact Tests

The present work deals with the study of the damping capacity of β-metastable Ti–(24–26) Nb alloys. In this work, several methods have been used to characterize this damping. The impact tests were carried out using two test benches: high-speed impacts were carried out using a vertical firing pressure gun and low-velocity impacts were studied with a bullet drop test. In addition, an original approach of a dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is proposed in order to obtain more in-depth understanding of the relationship between microstructure, deformation mechanisms, and damping capacity. The specimens are studied at different microstructure states: single β, dual-phase β + α″, and martensitic phase. A correlation is established between the evolution of the damping factor as function of the applied strain and the occurrence of the corresponding deformation mechanisms. The stress-induced martensite mechanism contributes to the improvement of the damping factor. The highest damping capacity is observed for the dual-phase specimen (β + α″). It is shown that the contribution of both the reorientation martensite variants and stress-induced martensitic transformation lead to a damping capacity higher than a single deformation mechanism one.