The effect of heat treatment temperature from 1173 K to 1373 K for 3.6 ks on mechanical and superelastic properties of an Ni-free Au-51Ti-18Co alloy (mol%) was investigated. The stress for inducing martensitic transformation (SIMT) and the critical stress for slip deformation (CSS) slightly decrease with increasing the heat–treatment temperature. Regardless of heat–treatment temperature, good superelasticity was definitely recognized with the maximum shape recovery ratio up to 95 % and 4 % superelastic shape recovery strain. As the mentioned reasons, the Au-51Ti-18Co alloy is promising for practical biomedical applications.