Pseudoelasticity of thermo-mechanically treated Fe–Mn–Si–Cr–Ta alloys

Abstract The effects of slight Tantalum (Ta) addition on the microstructures, martensitic transformation and pseudoelasticity of Fe–28Mn–6Si–5Cr alloy were investigated. Experimental results show that the slight addition of 0.1 wt% Ta can effectively inhibit the slip deformation, increase the M d temperature and hence improve the pseudoelasticity of Fe–28Mn–6Si–5Cr alloy. Meanwhile, the cold rolling can also significantly increase the alloy's pseudoelasticity, especially when the specimens are tested at near M d temperature. The pseudoelasticity can reach 62% at the sixth loading–unloading cycle for the 30% cold-rolled Fe–28Mn–6Si–5Cr–0.1Ta alloy.