Modelling of the Non Isothermal Cyclic Behaviour of a Polycrystalline Cu Zn Al Shape Memory Alloy

Abstract
In this paper, a model describing the behaviour of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) under constant applied stress and thermal cycling is developed. This is the first (and necessary) step to obtain a coherent modelling of the well-known Two Way Shape Memory Effect (TWSME) exhibited by SMA after a training process. Two different mechanisms characteristic to SMA are involved in the present description. The first one is related to training itself, whose macroscopic manifestation is the appearance of a permanent strain. The second one concerns the response of SMA to non-isothermal loading. It can be solved by the introduction of news variables in the internal variables set. There are the volume fraction of self-accommodating martensite (pure thermal effect) and the volume fraction of "oriented" martensite (thermo-mechanical effect). The comparison between simulation and our experimental results on Cu Zn Al polycrystals is fairly good.