Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 2, 2025
06:53
Author Spotlight: Rapid Prototyping and Testing of Self-Expanding Nitinol Frames for Transcatheter Implantable Devices
Published on: March 7, 2025
344
Mechanical Properties, Microstructure, and Actuation Behavior of Wire Arc Additive Manufactured Nitinol: Titanium
Shalini Singh1, Elena Demidova2, Natalia Resnina2
1Mechatronics and Instrumentation Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, India.
3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
|February 23, 2024
Summary
Wire arc additive manufacturing successfully created a novel Nitinol-Titanium bimetallic joint. This new joint exhibits enhanced shape recovery and actuation, paving the way for advanced engineering and medical applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Metallurgy
- Additive Manufacturing
Background:
- Nitinol (NiTi) and Titanium (Ti) possess desirable properties like biocompatibility and corrosion resistance.
- Bimetallic NiTi-Ti joints offer tailored properties and design flexibility but are challenging to create due to brittle intermetallic phases.
- Existing methods for joining NiTi and Ti are limited, necessitating novel approaches.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a NiTi-Ti bimetallic joint using wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) for the first time.
- To evaluate the microstructure, mechanical properties, martensitic transformation, and actuation behavior of the as-built joint.
- To explore the potential of WAAM for creating NiTi-Ti structures for engineering and medical uses.
Main Methods:
- Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) was employed to fabricate NiTi-Ti bimetallic joints.
- Microstructural analysis was conducted to identify phases and assess joint integrity.
- Mechanical testing evaluated microhardness, shape recovery, and actuation performance.
- Phase transformation temperatures were determined to assess material behavior.
Main Results:
- A defect-free NiTi-Ti bimetallic joint was successfully produced via WAAM.
- Microstructural studies revealed intermetallic phase formation at the NiTi-Ti interface, resulting in increased microhardness (600 HV).
- The bimetallic joint demonstrated enhanced shape recovery behavior and phase transformation temperatures compared to NiTi alone.
- Improved actuation and bending angle recovery were observed in the WAAM-fabricated joint.
Conclusions:
- WAAM is a viable technique for fabricating NiTi-Ti bimetallic joints with improved properties.
- The developed joint exhibits superior performance in terms of shape recovery and actuation.
- This research enables the application of WAAM in constructing NiTi-Ti bimetallic structures for diverse engineering and biomedical fields.
