Investigation on Shape Memory Alloys

Dear Colleagues,

Shape memory alloys (SMAs), also called intelligent materials, exhibit interesting properties when subjected to mechanical, thermal or magnetic loadings. For instance, they can accommodate large recoverable strains (super-elasticity) or recover their shape through simple heating after being inelastically strained (shape memory effect). It is well known that these unusual behaviors are due to a solid–solid displacive martensite phase transformation or to the reorientation of martensite variants in the case of magnetic shape memory alloys. These special behaviors promote the use of SMAs in many industrial applications, including aeronautic, space, biomedical, and civil engineering applications. In many of these applications, SMAs are subjected to cyclic loadings, which could induce failure of the SMA-made structures by fatigue crack initiation and propagation. Hence, a better understanding of fatigue and fracture mechanisms in SMAs seems important in order to further promote their use in high-tech applications.

The purpose of this Special Issue investigation on shape memory alloys is to report research in all aspects related to multiphysics and multiscale behaviors of SMAs. It includes strain-rate-dependent and strain-rate-independent constitutive models to predict the behavior of dense or porous SMAs during quasi-static, dynamic or cyclic thermomechanical loading, multiscale modeling of various deformation mechanisms such as phase transformation, dislocation and twinning, high-cycle and low-cycle fatigue crack initiation, and crack propagation, taking into account thermomechanical coupling.

Experimental, theoretical, and numerical contributions advancing the understanding of the aforementioned phenomena are of special interest. Papers on investigating and modeling 4D printing of SMAs and optimization of SMA microstructures are also welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Ziad Moumni
Prof. Dr. Weihong Zhang
Guest Editors

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• Shape memory alloys
• Multiphysics and multiscale investigations
• Fatigue crack initiation
• Crack propagation
• Thermomechanical coupling
• 4D printing
• Optimization
• Architected materials