Structure of martensite in Ti-rich Ti–Ni–Cu thin films annealed at different temperatures Original Research Article

After annealing at different temperatures, there are different types of precipitates in Ti-rich Ti–Ni–Cu thin films: plate-like Guinier–Preston (GP) zones, Ti2Cu precipitates and spherical Ti2Ni precipitates. The (0 1 1) compound twins and (1 1 1) type I twins are dominant in Ti-rich Ti–Ni–Cu thin films annealed at different temperatures, which suggests that the precipitates do not change the twinning modes of the B19 martensite. However, the amount of the (0 1 1) compound twin increases with increasing annealing temperature due to its small twinning shear. In thin films with GP zones or Ti2Ni precipitates, the amount of martensite with a single-pair morphology is less than that in thin films without precipitates. And in thin film with Ti2Cu + Ti2Ni precipitates, hardly any martensite with a single-pair morphology is observed. For the different types of precipitates at the different annealing temperatures, the obstacle of the precipitates to the growth of the B19 martensite plate also varies. The GP zones slightly hinder the growth in the width of martensite, resulting in wavy twin boundaries at the martensite variant tip. The Ti2Cu precipitates can change both the width and the direction of the martensite plates. Ti2Ni precipitates also significantly disturb or impede the growth of the martensite variants. These effects lead to a decrease in the maximum shape recoverable strain with increasing annealing temperature.