Research on Fatigue Performance of Shape-Memory Alloy Bars under Low Cyclic Loading

In recent years, shape memory alloys (SMAs) have been applied in the vibration control of engineering structures due to their special properties such as super elasticity and high damping, and the study of the performance of SMA wires has been relatively comprehensive, while research on the fatigue performance of SMA bars via cyclic tensile tests has been pretty rare, and low-cycle fatigue test has not been reported. However, the damage to building structures caused by earthquakes is of high-strain, low-cycle fatigue; therefore, in order for SMA bars to be used in seismic design, low-cycle fatigue tests were conducted on SMA bars with a diameter of 14 mm in this paper. Firstly, specimens were heat treated at a constant temperature of 350 °C for 30 min; other specimens were heat treated at a constant temperature of 400 °C for 15 min, while the rests were heat treated under a constant temperature of 400 °C for 30 min. Secondly, the energy dissipation capacity and residual strain of the SMA bar specimens were determined using the low-cycle fatigue test, in which the strain amplitudes were 2.5%, 3.5% and 3.75%. Additionally, the stress–strain relationship for SMA bars under cyclic loading was given. Finally, low-cycle fatigue properties of SMA bars were numerically simulated in the comparison analysis with the experimental results to verify their feasibility. Thus, it is proved that SMA bars can be recommend for seismic design building structures.

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