Shape Memory Alloys

When a limb is rendered immobile for long periods of time, its muscles will inevitably begin to atrophy. A new implant could help keep that from happening, however, by mechanically stretching and compressing those muscles.

Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois have demonstrated the world's smallest remote-controlled walking robot. These tiny machines can bend, twist, crawl, walk, turn and jump without hydraulics or electricity, using shape-memory alloys.

Although a completely flat-surfaced wheel would be aerodynamic, it would also be hard to keep cool – especially during the braking process. An experimental new wheel rim, however, has cooling vents that open as needed … and they're activated by heat.

Although an airliner's engines may be very loud on takeoff, its wings also create a lot of wind noise when it's landing. According to a new study, the latter problem could be addressed with the addition of a shape-memory alloy filler within the wing.

An advanced tire technology developed by NASA for use on planetary rovers could be coming to a bike lane near you, with startup the Smart Tire Company leveraging the technology to introduce an airless shape memory alloy tire for bicycles.

While dashboard-integrated trays are useful for storing items such as sunglasses, they can also add to a sense of in-car clutter. With this in mind, German scientists have created a tray that flattens into the dash when not required.

A German research team has prototyped an extraordinary heating/cooling system that stresses and unloads nickel-titanium "muscle wires" to create heated and cooled air at twice the efficiency of a heat pump or three times the efficiency of an air conditioner.

Refrigerator technology hasn’t changed much in decades. Now researchers in Europe have shown promising early results with an experimental cooling system that uses magnetic fields and shape-shifting memory alloys.

NASA engineers have added a new twist to a cutting edge aerospace technology by demonstrating how a new Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator can fold a 300-lb (136 kg) wing section from an F/A-18 Hornet supersonic fighter plane.

​Robots are often equipped with vacuum grippers, for holding onto flat objects. Typically, those grippers are powered by compressed air, which has some drawbacks. Now, however, scientists have developed one that instead utilizes an artificial muscle.

NASA sees folding wings as a key aeronautical technology for the aircraft of tomorrow and to make it practical, the space agency is looking to a cutting edge, lightweight memory alloy that allows an aircraft's wing and control surfaces to change their shape in flight without heavy hydraulic systems.

In an effort to make a greener, more energy efficient cooling system, a team of engineers from Germany's Saarland University is turning to shape memory materials to replace the refrigerant gases used in conventional cooling technologies.