A new class of shape memory alloys, based on near-equiatomic compositions of Ta-Ru and Nb-Ru, was recently discovered at the Naval Research Laboratory. These alloys exhibit transformation temperatures ranging up to 1400 °C for Ta-Ru and 1100 °C for Nb-Ru, making them the highest transition temperature shape memory alloys yet discovered. Other shape memory alloys typically have transition temperatures within a couple hundred degrees of room temperature. These two alloy systems are quite similar in their transformation behavior. Near the equiatomic composition, the high temperature β phase of both systems has a B2-ordered cubic crystal structure. During cooling, the cubic lattice of β undergoes a slight tetragonal distortion to form the β' phase. Continued cooling of the tetragonal β'(within specific composition ranges) causes a transformation to β'', which is reported to have an orthorhombic crystal structure. The effect of alloy composition on the temperatures, hysteresis, and strains of these transformations was determined by dilatometry.