%0 Journal Article %@ 0921-5093 %A Zhang, Xiaolong %A Liu, Chaozong %A Wang, Shuo %A Jiang, Yue %A Chen, Hongyi %A Zhang, Qingquan %A Li, Qiang %A Huang, Jie %A Zhang, Zhihui %D 2024 %F discovery:10198905 %I Elsevier BV %J Materials Science and Engineering: A %K Strain rates; Nitinol SMAs; Laser powder bed fusion; Multi-scale characterization %T Assessment of the mechanical and functional properties of nitinol alloys fabricated by laser powder bed fusion: Effect of strain rates %U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198905/ %V 916 %X Laser Powder Bed Fusion-fabricated (LPBFed) nitinol shape memory alloys (SMAs), which undergo solid-solid phase transitions between austenite and martensite, are increasingly utilized in various technical fields and are subjected to a wide range of strain rates during service. This study pioneers the investigation of a comprehensive range of strain rates (3.16 × 10−6-10°/s), encompassing the strain rates used in quasi-static tensile tests reported in the existing literature, to understand their effects on the deformation mechanisms of LPBFed nitinol SMAs. Utilizing multi-scale characterization, including macroscopic mechanical evaluation, mesoscale analysis of deformation surfaces, and microscale examination of microstructure, we reveal distinct deformation behaviors at different strain rates. At lower strain rates, the mechanical behavior exhibits little sensitivity to changes in the strain rates, with stress-induced martensite transformation or martensite detwinning and variant reorientation being the primary deformation mechanisms. However, at higher strain rates, we observe significant variability in mechanical response, dominated by dislocation-induced slip and reduced occurrence of stress-induced martensitic transformation. This study provides the first comprehensive database for the engineering applications of LPBFed Nitinol SMAs and offers critical insights into optimizing mechanical and functional assessments for these advanced materials. %Z This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.