Invited Articles from HTSMA—2nd International Conference on High-Temperature Shape Memory Alloys

Excerpt

The fact that Shape Memory and Superelasticity has decided to publish another special issue dedicated to high-temperature shape memory alloys—after just three years—attests to the rapid progress made in the field. The materials that are addressed in this issue range from NiTi and its derivatives to Co–Ni–Ga- and Ti–Ta-based systems. Microstructural instability was identified as one of the major roadblocks to the widespread use of these materials early on. Some of the papers contained in this issue address this aspect and advance our understanding of the underlying mechanism that govern functional degradation. Both intense modeling efforts and the use of advanced characterization tools—that range from production of thin film libraries to diffraction techniques—were key in this process. …