Mechanical Behavior of a Functional Polyethylene–Titanium Nickelide Composite Material

Abstract—The mechanical and functional properties of a composite material consisting of a polyethylene matrix reinforced with a titanium nickelide wire are investigated. This composite material has a high fracture strength under static and cyclic bending. The effective ultimate strength of the composite material during interlaminar shear exceeds 3.6 MPa. Depending on the structural state of titanium nickelide, the fatigue life of the composite material is 2–50 times longer than that after similar reinforcement with a corrosion-resistant steel wire. The viscoelastic behavior of polyethylene is found to affect the superelasticity and the one-way shape memory effect of the composite material. Despite the low adhesive strength of the polyethylene/titanium nickelide interface, this composite material can exhibit the one-way shape memory effect with a shape recovery η ≈ 0.95.