Abstract
The temperature dependence of dilatation characteristics, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of a Ni3Ta shape memory alloy were studied over the temperature range from room temperature up to 950oC. The Ni3Ta alloy was investigated in both polycrystalline and single crystal forms.
The shape memory effect was positive for the polycrystalline samples and negative for the single crystal. The transformation temperatures for the reverse phase transformation A→M was dependent on the maximum cycle temperature.
Higher maximum temperatures of the thermal cycle yielded lower transformation temperatures for the A→M transformation. This effect was larger for the polycrystalline alkou than fo the single crystal.
The thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the austenite were higher than those of the martensite..