Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2011
In view of a planar processing technique to develop a micro-actuator, irradiation experiments on plastically deformed martensitic TiNi thin films were performed using 5 MeV Ni++, with various fluences and temperatures, to study the dependence of microstructure and transformation characteristics on irradiation parameters. TEM observation and X-ray diffraction spectra show that irradiation resulted in a sharply defined continuous amorphous matrix, extending to the projected ion range, that contained both monoclinic and body centered cubic nanocrystals. The irradiation mechanisms and films' temperature-displacement are discussed in terms of the observed microstructure.