Fabrication of cellular NiTi intermetallic compounds

Abstract
Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) has been successfully developed for the fabrication of cellular NiTi intermetallic compounds, which have an open cellular structure with about 60 vol% porosity and more than 95% open-porosity ratio. The SHS reactions lead to the formation of TiNi, Ti2Ni, Ni3Ti, and Ni4Ti3 intermetallics. The SHS process can be controlled by regulating the preheating temperature, which has effects on the phase amount and the shape as well as macrodistribution of pores in the products.