Influence of Directional Solidification on the Mechanical Properties of Cu-Al-Be-Nb-Ni Alloy

Copper-based polycrystalline shape memory alloys (SMAs) have limitations for many practical applications due to their low superelasticity and low ductility. In order to overcome this situation, in recent years, the production of copper-based SMAs by directional solidification process has attracted the interest of many researches. In this sense, the present work had as objective to evaluate, through instrumented indentation tests, the influence of the solidification direction on the elastic modulus, hardness and superelasticity of a Cu-Al-Be-Nb-Ni alloy produced by directional solidification. The results showed that the superelasticity, remnant depth, elastic modulus and hardness DHV-1 are strongly dependent on the direction of application of the load in relation to the solidification direction, that is, the alloy presented an anisotropic behavior for its mechanical properties.