Superelasticity with narrow stress hysteresis and high cyclic stability in Co–V–Al polycrystalline alloy

Superelasticity of shape memory alloy associated with the martensitic transformation is extremely attractive for applications in sensors and biomedical. This application requires narrow stress hysteresis to reduce energy dissipation and a stable superelasticity cycle is an important factor in their practical applications. Co–V–Al alloys have inimitable advantages due to their narrow stress hysteresis, low-cost, and corrosion resistance, but the low number of superelasticity cycles restricts its development. Here, we report an intrinsic Co58V29Al13 polycrystalline alloy with a superelasticity stress hysteresis of 30 MPa at room temperature, the lowest among the alloys in this system, and a superelasticity strain of 3.6%. In addition, the sample shows no significant decay trend after 500 loading and unloading cycles. The high number of superelasticity cycles is mainly due to the elastic stress field generated around the dislocation during the cycle, which provides internal stress for martensite nucleation and reduces energy dissipation during martensitic transformation. This work provides essential guiding significance for the design of high-performance superelasticity alloys.