New shape-shifting metals discovered

[SHALLY]

A new shape-changing metal crystal is reported in the journal Nature, by scientists at University of Minnesota.

It is the prototype of a new family of smart materials that could be used in applications ranging from space vehicles to electronics to jet engines.

Called a "martensite", the crystal has two different arrangements of atoms, switching seamlessly between them.

It can change shape tens of thousands of times when heated and cooled without degrading, unlike existing technology.

Currently, martensite metals are made of an alloyed mixture of nickel and titanium.

They have the remarkable ability to "remember" their shape and even after being bent will return to their original form. For this, they are called "shape memory" metals.

They have been used in spectacle frames and brassiere wires, but also in surgery as frameworks for shaping healing bones, and as "stents" for holding heart arteries open.

 

[Katzenfreund]

Well, it's encouraging that while electronics is advancing in rapid strides, other aspects of engineering don't stay static.

But I'm wondering what's the advantage of using a presumably very expensive new material that remembers its shape in e.g. spectacle frames.

 

[NavyRet]

I have a pair of eyeglass frames that do that exact thing. I can bend them any which way and they come back to their original shape immediately upon release. I also have three stents in my left anterior descending coronary artery made of the stuff.