On non-monotonic rate dependence of stress hysteresis of superelastic shape memory alloy bars

This paper presents a simple thermo-mechanical model to explain and quantify the observed strain-rate dependence of the stress hysteresis of shape memory alloys (SMAs) bars/strips during stress-induced forward/reverse phase transition with latent heat release/absorption. By solving the convective heat transfer equation and employing the temperature dependence of the SMA’s transformation stresses, we are able to prove that the stress hysteresis depends non-monotonically on the applied strain rate with a peak appearing at an intermediate strain rate. We further showed that such a non-monotonic rate dependence is governed by the competition of phase-transition time (or latent-heat release/absorption time) and the time of heat exchange with the environment, and that the hysteresis peak is achieved when the two time scales become comparable. A bell-shaped scaling law of the rate dependence is derived, agreeing quantitatively well with the results of experiments.