Effects of ruthenium (Ru) substitution on constituent phases, phase transformation temperatures and mechanical properties were investigated for Ti-Ni shape memory alloys. Ti50Ni50-X Ru X alloys with Ru contents (X) from 0mol% (binary TiNi) to 50mol% (binary TiRu) were systematically prepared by Ar arc-melting followed by hot-forging at temperatures from 1173K to 1673K depending on chemical composition. Phase stability was assessed by DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), XRD (X-ray diffractometry) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy). Mechanical properties were investigated using hardness and tensile tests at room temperature. With increasing Ru content, it was found that the lattice parameter of B2 phase increases, the martensitic transformation temperature slightly decreases, and the melting temperature increases monotonously. Besides, R-phase appears for Ti-Ni alloys containing 3mol% and 20mol%Ru but no diffusionless phase transformation is seen in Ti-Ni alloy containing 5mol%Ru. Vickers hardness shows the maximum at an intermediate composition (HV1030 at 30mol%Ru); this suggests that large solid solution hardening is caused by Ru substitution for the Ni-sites in TiNi.

Since the maximum shape recovery temperature of the binary Ti-Ni alloys is limited to be around 400K, the increase in martensitic transformation temperature (M s) of Ti-Ni should be done by alloying for the demand of high temperature applications. Although most of additional elements are known to decrease M s of Ti-Ni, substitutional elements having large atomic size are expected to increase M s. In this study, phase constitution, phase transformation temperature, lattice parameter of B2 phase and Vickers hardness were investigated for Ti-Ni alloys containing several platinum-group metals (PGM). The alloy systems investigated were the pseudobinary systems of TiNi-TiRh, TiNi-TiIr and TiNi-TiPt where the PGM atoms substitute for the Ni-sites of TiNi. The phase transformation and phase constitution were assessed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found by XRD that TiNi can contain a large amount of the PGMs as Ti(Ni, Rh), Ti(Ni, Ir) and Ti(Ni, Pt). Lattice parameters monotonously increase with increasing amount of PGMs. With increasing Pt content, M s slightly decreases when less than 10mol%Pt while continuously increases as the rate of 26K/mol%Pt when more than 10mol%Pt. On the other hand, M s decreases and then disappears with increasing Rh or Ir content. Hardness ranges from HV180 to HV570 and the maximum values in the pseudobinary systems lie around 20–30mol%PGM, suggesting solid solution hardening caused by the substitution of PGMs.

The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities χ(3)1111(-3ω; ω, ω, ω) of macrocyclic compounds such as phthalocyanines and porphyrins are determined for the vacuum deposited and spin coated thin films by optical third-harmonic generation measurements at a wavelength of 1907 nm. The enhancements of the χ(3) values are discussed in terms of the central metal substitution, molecular stacking, extended ring size and number of χ-electrons. We firstly describe the results of extended porphyrin systems with 26 delocalized π-electrons.

The third order optical susceptibilities (−3ω; ω, ω ω,) for soluble metallophthalocyanine derivatives were determined by optical third harmonic generation measurements of molecularly doped polymer films at a wavelength of 1907nm. The X(3) value of tetra-tert-butylvanadylphthalocyanine is larger than that of metal-free derivative. We demonstrate experiment on modes of propagating light wave in molecularly doped films which exhibit excellent optical quality. The enhancement of third order optical nonlinear susceptibilities in phthalocyanine compounds are discussed in terms of molecular structure and molecular packing.