MANUFACTURE OF SHAPE CHANGE ALLOY

摘要

PURPOSE:To obtain a shape change alloy usable at high temp. and having high toughness by heating an alloy having the structure of a beta-brass type electronic compound to a temp. in the beta-phase range and by rapidly cooling it to form a metastable nonequilibrium beta-phase. CONSTITUTION:An alloy having the structure of a beta-brass type electronic compound such as a Cu-Zn alloy is heated to a temp. in the beta-phase range and rapidly cooled in water or the like to form a metastable nonequilibrium beta-phase. A shape change alloy having the expected effect is obtd. by working the heat treated alloy in a state in which the metastable nonequilibrium beta-phase or a martensite phase is present. The resulting alloy has high toughness and can be repeatedly used even at high temp.