Synchrotron high energy X-ray diffraction study of microstructure evolution of severely cold drawn NiTi wire during annealing

Microstructure evolution of a cold-drawn NiTi shape memory alloy wire was investigated by means of in-situ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction during continuous heating. The cold-drawn wire contained amorphous regions and nano-crystalline domains in its microstructure. Pair distribution function analysis revealed that the amorphous regions underwent structural relaxation via atomic rearrangement when heated above 100 °C. The nano-crystalline domains were found to exhibit a strong cold work induced lattice strain anisotropy along (111), which coincides with the crystallographic fiber orientation of the domains along the wire axial direction. The lattice strain anisotropy systematically decreased upon heating above 200 °C, implying a structural recovery. Crystallization of the amorphous phase led to a broadening of the angular distribution of (111) preferential orientations of grains along the axial direction as relative to the original (111) axial fiber texture of the nanocrystalline domains produced by the severe cold wire drawing deformation.