An overview is presented on the structural and phase transformations and physical and mechanical properties of those multicomponent copper-based shape memory alloys which demonstrate attractive commercial potential due to their low cost, good shape memory characteristics, ease of fabrication, and excellent heat and electrical conductivity. However, their applications are very limited due to brittleness, reduced thermal stability, and mechanical strength—properties which are closely related to the microstructural features of these alloys. The efforts of the authors of this article were aimed at obtaining a favorable microstructure of alloys using new alternative methods of thermal and thermomechanical treatments. For the first time, the cyclic martensitic transformations during repeated quenching, methods of uniaxial megaplastic compression, or torsion under high pressure were successfully applied for radical size refinement of the grain structure of polycrystalline Cu-Al-Ni-based alloys with shape memory. The design of the ultra- and fine-grained structure by different methods determined (i) an unusual combination of strength and plasticity of these initially brittle alloys, both under controlled heat or hot compression or stretching, and during subsequent tensile tests at room temperature, and, as a consequence, (ii) highly reversible shape memory effects.

The structure-phase features and mechanical properties of the Cu–14 wt % Al–4 wt % Ni alloy, which undergoes thermoelastic martensitic transformations and exhibits shape memory effects associated with them, have been studied for the first time in a wide temperature interval. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy and X-ray phase analysis were used in this study. The uniaxial compressive strain arrangement was used in isothermal measurements of the mechanical properties.

Using the methods of electron microscopy and X-ray analysis in combination with measurements of the electrical resistance and magnetic susceptibility, the authors have obtained data on the peculiar features of pre-martensitic states and martensitic transformations, as well as subsequent decomposition, in the alloys with shape memory effect of Cu–14wt%Al–3wt%Ni and Cu–13.5wt%Al–3.5wt%Ni. For the first time, we established the microstructure, phase composition, mechanical properties, and microhardness of the alloys obtained in the nanocrystalline state as a result of severe plastic deformation under high pressure torsion and subsequent annealing. A crystallographic model of the martensite nucleation and the rearrangements β₁→β₁′ and β₁→γ₁′ are proposed based on the analysis of the observed tweed contrast and diffuse scattering in the austenite and the internal defects in the substructure of the martensite.

Cu–14 wt% Al–4 wt% Ni alloy demonstrating the shape memory effect has been subjected to plastic deformation by means of uniaxial compression (upset). The process has been controlled by measuring the strain rate, applied stress, and compression ratio of standard specimens under isothermal conditions in the interval 400–600°C. Structural modifications in the alloy after mechanical tests have been studied by optical, scanning, and transmission microscopy methods and using X-ray phase analysis. It has been found that grains in the alloy became much finer (from 1 mm to 100 μm across) and its strength and ductility improved owing to dynamic recrystallization.

The effect of heat treatment on the microstructure, phase composition, mechanical properties, and microhardness of the shape-memory Сu–14 wt % Al–3 wt % Ni alloy prepared in the nanocrystalline state, which results from the severe plastic high-pressure torsion (HPT), is studied. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis are used in combination with electrical resistivity measurements in order to obtain data on the peculiarities of thermoelastic martensitic transformations and decomposition in the HPT-processed alloy subjected to thermal actions.