J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.
DOI 10.1007/s40430-016-0617-4
TECHNICAL PAPER
Fabrication and thermomechanical characterization of a new
Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti shape memory alloy bolt
G. D. Travassos1 · L. F. A. Rodrigues1 · C. J. de Araújo1   
Received: 1 March 2016 / Accepted: 27 July 2016
© The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering 2016
Abstract Industry experts in product innovation are
always developing proposals and more effective solutions
appropriate to the needs of some high-tech industrial areas,
creating advanced technologies that increase the reliability
of systems used in these areas. In this context, advanced
materials are frequently studied to obtain more reliability
in bolted joints, avoiding problems, such as leaks in pipe-
lines or constant maintenance. In this work, a novel super-
elastic bolt was developed from a Cu–Al–Mn–Ni–Ti shape
memory alloy (SMA) to increase reliability in bolted con-
nections. The superelastic phenomenon presented by SMA
allows full or partial recovery of large strains, between 4
and 8 % in tensile mode. This capability can be useful for
the development of various industrial applications, espe-
cially in areas that require new high-technologies such
as aerospace, automotive, energy and oil and gas sectors.
Thus, this paper describes the fabrication and thermome-
chanical characterization of a superelastic bolt from a cop-
per based SMA. The selected Cu–Al–Mn–Ni–Ti superelas-
tic SMA was processed using plasma melting followed by
metal injection molding for minimizing bolt manufactur-
ing machining steps. After the manufacture of the SMA
bolt, it was carried out thermomechanical characterization
using DSC thermal analysis and reversible tensile test-
ing at increasing temperatures between 35 and 90 °C. The
results show that the superelastic bolt has good mechanical
Technical Editor: Marcelo A. Savi.
* C. J. de Araújo
carlos.araujo@ufcg.edu.br
1 ficult in applications.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade
Federal de Campina Grande, Rua Aprígio Veloso, 882,
Campina Grande, PB 58429‑140, Brazil
properties, demonstrating a great capacity for strain recov-
ery and energy dissipation by mechanical hysteresis.
Keywords  Superelasticity · Superelastic bolt · SMA
actuators · Smart materials
1 Introduction
Conventional bolts are largely used in many types of indus-
trial structures and equipments. These mechanical compo-
nents may be submitted to cyclical or variable mechanical
loads (forces and torques) which can cause large plastic
strains when its elastic limit is exceeded [1]. In addition,
the assembly and disassembly operations can lead to pre-
mature failure of bolts manufactured with conventional
metallic materials. An alternative for this problem may be
the manufacture of new bolts from shape memory alloys
(SMA), classified as smart material. These advanced met-
als exhibit the superelasticity phenomenon and can recover
large strains after loading and unloading [2–4]. Alterna-
tively, when its strain recover is blocked, these materials
can generate high forces by increasing temperature [5].
Nowadays, there are two major classes of SMA: the Ni–
Ti alloy and its variants (Ni–Ti–Cu, Ni–Ti–Mo, Ni–Ti–Nb,
etc.), and copper based alloys (Cu–Zn–Al, Cu–Al–Ni, Cu–
Al–Mn, Cu–Al–Be, etc.) [3, 6]. The Ni–Ti based SMA are
more expensive, but have the advantage of being biocom-
patible, increasing applications in medicine and dentistry,
as well as general industrial applications (aerospace, auto-
motive, oil and gas, etc.) [7]. On the other hand, the copper
based SMA are low cost, but can be fragile and thus dif-
Among the copper based SMA, Cu–Al–Ni and Cu–Zn–Al
alloys are the most studied. In the polycrystalline state, the
13

Fig. 1  Methodological
sequence used in the present
work
Thermal Analysis
Cu–Al–Ni SMA can be quite fragile, due to intergranular
cracking (IGC) problems [6]. According to Gui et al. [8], IGC
problem can be circumvented by modifying the Cu–Al–Ni
SMA, suggesting that the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti alloy can have
higher strength due to reduction in the grain size. Based on
this, Da Silva et al. [9] successfully tested a cylindrical con-
nector manufactured with the 79.4Cu–12.6Al–5.0Ni–2.0Mn–
1.0Ti (wt%) SMA. This component was thermomechanically
cycled without presenting any problem of premature failure.
Mainly due to the property of superelasticity, SMA have
been considered for applications in bolted connections for
applications in civil engineering [10]. However, there are
few experimental studies evaluating the development of
mechanical components such as bolts, nuts and washers,
particularly of copper based SMA [11–14].
In this context of technological advance based on the
potential of SMA materials, this paper proposes the devel-
opment of a novel smart bolt, manufactured from a low
cost ductile copper based SMA, allowing large recoverable
strains. The Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA superelastic bolt was
obtained by the Plasma Skull Push Pull (PSPP) process,
previously validated by De Araujo et al. [15] for the manu-
facture of Cu–Al and Ni–Ti based SMA. Characterization
by thermal analysis and stress–strain isothermal tests has
demonstrated the effectiveness of this new concept.
2 Experimental procedure
The methodology used to develop the present work follows
the flowchart of Fig. 1.
2.1 Selection of the superelastic SMA
The selection of the SMA was based on a suitable material for
manufacturing bolts with superelasticity effect at temperatures
13
J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.
Selection of the Superelastic
Cu-based SMA
Design and Manufacture of
the Metallic Mold
Fabrication of the
Superelastic Bolt by PSPP
Mechanical Stabilization
Heat Treatment
Isothermal Uniaxial Tensile
Tests
near room temperature (30 °C). Another important charac-
teristic for the choice of the SMA is that its production cost
must be economically viable. Thus, a copper based SMA was
selected, with nominal composition shown in Table 1. This
SMA was successfully used by Da Silva et al. [10] for manu-
facturing a cylindrical electrical connector. Compared to ter-
nary Cu–Al–Ni SMA, the addition of Mn and Ti reduces brit-
tleness and others problems related to intergranular cracking
commonly observed in these alloys [6, 8].
2.2 Fabrication of the SMA copper based superelastic
bolt
A stainless steel mold was designed taking as reference
from commercially available M6 bolt dimensions, with
40 mm in length (M6-1.0 × 40 DIN 931 CLASS 8.8, from
Ciser Inc., Brazil). This is necessary because the Plasma
Skull Push Pull (PSPP) process employed for manufactur-
ing the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA superelastic bolt consist
of melting by a rotating plasma arc torch followed by the
injection of the melt into a mold [15]. Figure 2 show the
sequence of PSPP process for this specific application.
For the manufacture of M6 superelastic bolt it was calcu-
lated that the mass of material needed to completely fill the
mold, using the volume of the internal cavity of the mold
and the bulk density of the selected SMA.
Figure  2 summarizes all steps for obtaining the final
product, from pure metals to the bolt from machining oper-
ations. The commercial pure constituents were cut (Fig. 2a)
Table 1  Nominal chemical composition of the selected copper based
SMA (wt%)
Cu (%) Al (%) Ni (%) Mn (%) Ti (%)
79.4 12.6 5.0 2.0 1.0
J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.
Fig. 2  Steps for obtaining the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA superelastic bolt by the PSPP process
in proportions of Table 1. As previously described, to man-
ufacture the superelastic bolt it was chosen a plasma melt-
ing process followed by injection into the metallic mold, as
shown in Fig. 2b–e. From this PSPP process is obtained a
final product with the shape close to a M6 bolt, i.e., in the
top a cylinder with diameter close to the head bolt and a
lower cylinder with diameter and length corresponding to
the body of the bolt (Fig. 2e).
After the PSPP process (Fig. 2e), it is necessary to per-
form two machining operations. The first uses a hand tool
to obtain the M6 threads of the bolt in the body part and
subsequently makes the head of the bolt, thus taking the
hexagonal shape (Fig. 2f, g). These machining operations
do not affect the general characteristics of the phase trans-
formation observed in this bolt.
2.3 Heat treatment and thermal analysis
After the PSPP process and machining, the product was
heat treated at a temperature of 850 °C for 15 min with
subsequent quenching in water. Then, some specimens
from the bolt showed in Fig. 2f were taken to determine the
transformation temperatures using Differential Scanning
Calorimetry (DSC).
The phase transformation temperatures of the super-
elastic bolt were determined using a DSC apparatus from
TA Instruments, model Q20. The sample was cut to about
47 mg and tested in the temperature range from −20 to
80 °C, starting first from high to low temperature (cooling)
followed by reversion (heating). The rate of heating and
cooling was 5 °C/min.
2.4 Mechanical stabilization and isothermal uniaxial
tensile tests
The mechanical stabilization procedure consists of load-
ing and unloading the superelastic M6 bolt for 50 times
at a temperature in which the SMA is fully in austenitic
phase (90 °C). Figure 3 show the assembly employed for
that stabilization process and isothermal uniaxial tensile
tests.
After mechanical stabilization with the structure shown
in Fig. 3a, isothermal stress–strain tests were carried out,
starting from 35 °C with increments of 5 °C until a final
temperature of 90 °C. For all tensile tests the maximum
strain was limited at 5 % with a strain rate of 1 %/min
(corresponding to 1667 × 10−4 s−1) during loading and
unloading.
13
 J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.

Fig. 3  Structure employed for mechanical stabilization and tensile tests at different temperatures. a Universal testing machine, Instron 5582. b
Detail of the assembly of M6 superelastic bolt in the heating chamber

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Transformation temperatures of the SMA bolt

The reversible phase transformation observed in SMA is

characterized by four characteristic temperatures: starting
temperature of martensite formation from austenite during
cooling (Ms) and finish temperature of this martensite for-
mation (Mf), and the starting temperature of austenite rever-
sion from martensite during heating (As) and the temperature
associated with the end of austenite reversion (Af) [2, 6].
The temperatures of the start and end of the phase trans-
formations during cooling and heating of the copper based
SMA were obtained by the tangent intersections in the
DSC peaks [2], as pointed out in Fig. 4.
As can be observed in Fig. 4, the SMA bolt becomes
fully in the austenite state, and consequently superelastic,
Fig. 4  Transformation temperatures of the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA
after about 60 °C (above Af = 52.6 °C). From this tempera- used to manufacture the superelastic bolt
ture, the mechanical load applied to the bolt should induce
martensite by stress from austenite, leading to large revers-
ible strains during loading and unloading [2]. which present superelasticity as a well-defined plateau
stress in both, the loading and unloading path [2, 6]. From
3.2 Mechanical stabilization Fig.  5 it is observed that after about 10 cycles of loading
and unloading, the stress–strain behavior of the bolt tends
The cyclic stress–strain behavior of the SMA bolt in super- to stabilize due to accumulation of residual strain, which is
elastic regime (90 °C) is shown in Fig. 5. This behavior is approximately 0.7 % after 50 cycles. There is also a slight
approximately bi-linear during loading and almost linear decrease in maximum stress (at 5 % of strain), which also
during unloading, unlike is observed for most of the SMA, tends to stabilize at approximately 212 MPa with the cycles.

13
J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.

220
Maximum Stress
200
180
160
140 Critical Stress

Stress (MPa)
120
100
80
60 in T = 90 °C
Stra T = 75 °C
40 u al
sid T = 60 °C
20 Re
T = 45 °C
0 T = 35 °C
0 1 2 3 4 5
Strain (%)

Fig. 6  Evolution of the stress–strain behavior of the superelastic

Fig. 5  Stress–strain behavior during 50 cycles of mechanical stabi- SMA bolt with increasing temperature
lization of the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA bolt in superelastic regime
(T = 90 °C)

250
3.3 Isothermal uniaxial tensile behavior
200
Figure 6 shows the obtained stress–strain behaviors of the
Stress (MPa)

M6 SMA bolt for different test temperatures. In this figure 150

the main bolt thermomechanical parameters are defined:
critical stress to induce martensite from austenite, maxi- 100
mum stress during loading (at 5 %) and residual strain after
mechanical unloading. Qualitatively, it can be observed, a 50
gradual increase in the maximum stress and elastic mod-
ulus of the bolt with temperature. As expected, the super- 0
90
elastic recovery of the bolt increases gradually with tem- 80
Te

70 6
m

perature, tending to stabilize at about 5 % for temperatures 5

pe

60 4
higher than 60 °C. 3
ra

50 2
(%)
tu

Figure  7 shows a three-dimensional plot of the stress– 40 1 in

re

strain graphs for all temperatures at which the tests were 0 Stra
(°C

performed with the SMA superelastic bolt.

)

The thermomechanical parameters determined from

Fig. 6, as the residual strain, the maximum stress (at 5 % of
strain) and the critical stress to induce martensite at differ-
ent temperatures [16], are shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
Figure  8 confirms that for temperatures higher than
55 °C the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA bolt become fully super-
elastic, with a residual strain tending to zero.
From Fig. 9 it is possible to identify two regions of
critical stress with different dσ/dT slopes. The first region,
between 35 and 50 °C allows extrapolate the Ms tempera-
ture at zero stress. Comparing the extrapolated Ms (31.9 °C)
from Fig. 9 with the value obtained by DSC (34.3 °C) in
Fig. 4, we can note a good agreement. Upon heating to the
austenitic phase, for temperatures higher than 55 °C, the
SMA bolt becomes more and more superelastic and the
dσ/dT slope is strongly reduced, defining a second region
Fig. 7  Three-dimensional stress–strain graphs of the SMA superelas-
tic bolt with increasing test temperature
where the stress increase slightly with temperature (about
20 MPa from 55 to 90 °C).
Figure 10 shows the results of another important param-
eter, the dissipated energy (in MJ/m3) that can be obtained
from internal area of the superelastic loops [2, 17] of Fig. 7.
For an almost complete superelastic behavior, between 55
and 90 °C, the dissipated energy are in the range of 1.45–
1.80 MJ/m3. These values are compatible with others pre-
sented in the literature for copper based SMA [18, 19].
This hysteretic behavior associated with dissipation of
mechanical energy (Figs. 6, 10) may be used to mitigate
mechanical vibrations [20], making the use of this type of

13
 J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.

1,6 2,2
Dissipated Energy
1,4 2,1

Dissipated Energy (MJ/m3)

2,0
Residual Strain (%)

1,2
1,9
1,0
1,8
0,8
1,7
0,6
1,6
0,4
1,5
0,2
1,4
0,0 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Temperature (ºC)
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 10  Dissipated energy in the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti superelastic
Fig. 8  Residual strain as a function of test temperature after unload- SMA bolt as a function of test temperature
ing the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti superelastic bolt

for future commercial production due to its low cost and

220 easy manufacturing processes such as forging, machining
200 and rolling. Thus, it is possible to estimate that for large
180 scale production major changes are not required to existing
160 manufacturing lines in the industries of brass bolts.
The stress–strain hysteretic loops presented in this work
140
Stress (MPa)

show that the designed superelastic bolt has good mechani-

120
cal properties when compared with conventional bolts of
100 other metallic alloys, as yellow brass and bronzes. The
80 great advantage of this concept is demonstrated by the
60 Critical Stress recovery of large strains, of the order of 5 %, and dissipated
40 Maximum Stress energy as higher as 1.6 MJ/m3 at temperatures around
20 Ms=31,9 °C 60 °C.
0 There is a commercial feasibility of manufacturing the
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 superelastic bolt developed in this study, both for use in
Temperature (°C) specific applications of high technology but also by replac-
ing traditional bolts in many structures for dynamic appli-
cations, which can require these types of energy absorbing
Fig. 9  Maximum stress and critical stress as a function of tempera-
ture for loading the Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti superelastic bolt elements.

Acknowledgments The authors thank the National Council for

bolt can improve the dynamic performance of pipes sub-
jected to temperature and variable mechanical loads.
4 Conclusions
Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) Brazilian office
for sponsoring the National Institute of Science and Technology
for Smart Structures in Engineering (INCT-EIE, Grant Number
574001/2008-5), UFCG-UFRJ-ITA Casadinho project (Grant Number
552199/2011-7), Universal 14/2012 (Grant Number 474524/2012-4),
CNPq-Petrobras Doctoral Scholarship (Grant Number 503082/2011-
2) and PQ 1D (Grant Number 304658/2014-6).

In this work a Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti SMA was studied for

the development of smart fasteners, such as new bolts, due
References
to the fact that these materials present the superelasticity
phenomenon at relatively low temperatures, and perfectly 1. Shigley JE, Mischke CR, Budynas RG (2004) Mechanical engi-
controllable. neering design, 7th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York
The SMA chosen for manufacturing the superelastic bolt 2. Savi MA, Paiva A, de Araujo CJ, de Paula AS (2016) Shape
memory alloys. In: Lopes Jr V, Steffen Jr V, Savi MA (org)
is based on the Cu–Al alloy system, which makes it ideal

13
J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.
Dynamics of smart systems and structures, vol 1, 1st edn.
Springer International Publishing, Basel, pp 155–188.
doi:10.1007/978-3-319-29982-2_8
3. Peairs DM, Park G, Inman DJ (2004) Practical issues of
activating self-repairing bolted joints. Smart Mater Struct
13:1414–1423
4. Hesse T, Ghorashi M, Inman DJ (2004) Shape memory alloy in
tension and compression and its application as clamping-force
actuator in a bolted joint: part 1—experimentation. J Intell Mater
Syst Struct 15:577–587
5. Yan XJ, Ge YL, Van Humbeeck J (2016) Influence of differ-
ent thermo-mechanical cycling routes on recovery stresses of
annealed NiTi wires. J Mater Eng Perform 25(1):267–273
6. Otsuka K, Wayman CM (1998) Shape memory materials. In:
Otsuka K, Wayman CM (eds) Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge. http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/
engineering/materialsscience/shape-memory-materials
7. Jania JM, Learya M, Subica A, Gibson MA (2014) A review of
shape memory alloy research, applications and opportunities.
Mater Des 56:1078–1113
8. Gui J, Zou WH, Wang R, Zhang D, Tang CH, Xiang MZ, Yang
DZ (1996) X-ray diffraction study of the reverse martensi-
tic transformation in Cu–Al–Ni–Mn–Ti shape memory alloy.
Scripta Mater 35(3):435–440
9. Da Silva NJ, Silva JA, Reis RPB, Simões JB, De Araújo CJ
(2010) Manufacture and electro-thermomechanical characteri-
zation of a SMA copper-based cylindrical connector. Mater Sci
Forum 643:29–35
10. Ma H, Cho C, Wilkinson T (2008) A numerical study on bolted
end-plate connection using shape memory alloys. Mater Struct
41(8):1419–1426
11. Zhang XR, Nie JX, Hou G (2000) Development of anti-
loosening nuts using shape memory alloys. Mater Sci Forum
327–328:35–38
12. Fang C, Yam MCH, Lam ACC, Xie L (2014) Cyclic performance
of extended end-plate connections equipped with shape memory
alloy bolts. J Constr Steel Res 94:122–136
13. Pereira FFR, De Araujo CJ (2015) Development of self-locking
bolts using shape memory alloys. In: SMST 2015—the model
for shape memory application, proceedings of the international
conference on shape memory and superelastic technologies.
ASM International, pp 79–80
14. Maletta C, Filice L, Furgiuele F (2013) NiTi Belleville wash-
ers: design, manufacturing and testing. J Intell Mater Syst Struct
24(6):695–703
15. De Araújo CJ, Gomes AA, Silva JA, Cavalcanti AJT, Reis RPB,
Gonzalez CH (2009) Fabrication of shape memory alloys using
the plasma skull push-pull process. J Mater Process Technol
209:3657–3664
16. Kang G, Kan Q, Qian L, Liu Y (2009) Ratchetting deformation
of super-elastic and shape memory Ni–Ti alloys. Mech Mater
41:139–153
17. Kang G, Kan Q, You C, Song D, Liu Y (2012) Whole-life trans-
formation ratchetting and fatigue of super-elastic Ni–Ti alloy
under uniaxial stress-controlled cyclic loading. Mater Sci Eng A
535:228–234
18. Gil FJ, Guilemany JM (1997) Friction and stored elastic energy
in Cu–Zn–A1 single crystals with pseudoelastic behaviour. Ther-
mochim Acta 290:167–171
19. Araki Y, Maekawa N, Omori T, Sutou Y, Kainuma R, Ishida K
(2012) Rate-dependent response of superelastic Cu–Al–Mn
alloy rods to tensile cyclic loads. Smart Mater Struct 21:032002
(7 pp). doi:10.1088/0964-1726/21/3/032002
20. Torra V, Isalgue A, Lovey FC, Sade M (2015) Shape memory
alloys as an effective tool to damp oscillations. J Therm Anal
Calorim 119:1475–1533
13