Micro- and Nano-Scale Shape Memory Material for Mechanical Damping

A mechanical structure is provided with a crystalline superelastic alloy that is characterized by an average grain size and that exhibits a martensitic phase transformation resulting from a mechanical stress input greater than a characteristic first critical stress. A configuration of the superelastic alloy is provided with a geometric structural feature of the alloy that has an extent that is no greater than about 200 micrometers and that is no larger than the average grain size of the alloy. This geometric feature undergoes the martensitic transformation without intergranular fracture of the geometric feature.