Combining thermodynamic principles with Preisach models for superelastic shape memory alloy wires

We present a simple model for simulating the response of a superelastic shape memory alloy wire based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes, which can simulate the full thermomechanical response including internal hysteresis loops, at different temperatures, with minimal data input. The key idea is to separate the dissipative response and the elastic response of shape memory alloys using a Gibbs potential based formulation, and then use a Preisach model for the dissipative part of the response. This enables better handling of the features observed in the superelastic response such as those due to changes in temperature and internal hysteresis loops. We compare the predicted response with experiments performed on 0.75 mm NiTi shape memory alloy wires at three different temperatures.