Functional Shape Memory Materials: History and Perspectives

An overview of the direction dedicated to the appearance and development of functional shape memory materials will be presented. Deep relationship between martensitic phase transformations, thermoelastic phase equilibrium and shape memory phenomena will be emphasized. Importance of phase stability versus crystal and electronic structure for various solid solutions and intermetallic compounds is going to be shown. In particular, the Rietveld refinement modeling for certain austenite and martensite crystal structures will be presented. Rietveld refinement modeling will be compared with ab-initio modeling results. Perspective trends in shape memory alloys development will be presented and discussed.