When mechanically loaded, a superelastic alloy deforms reversibly to very high strains (up to 10%) by the creation of a stress-induced phase.
Superelastic devices take advantage of their large, reversible deformation and include antennas, eyeglass frames, and biomedical stents.
Recently, there have been interests of discovering materials exhibiting superelasticity in nanoscale for MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems) application.
[3] On the other hand, the critical stress for martensitic phase transformation to occur is also increased because of the reduced possible sites for nucleation to begin.
Therefore, the phase transformation of nanoscale materials exhibiting superelasticity is usually found to be homogeneous, resulting in much higher critical stress.