Nitinol Shape Memory Alloy Wires Never Forget It’s Roots

Nitinol shape memory alloy wires are alloys with a "memory", which are able to return to their original shape after being deformed by pressure or temperature changes. With a wide range of applications including metallurgy, manufacturing, biomedicine and children's crafts, the range of applications for nickel-titanium materials continues to expand. The material 'remembers' its initial shape and returns to its original shape when conditions return to normal.

Commonly used materials for SMA include copper-aluminium-nickel alloys and nickel-titanium alloys, the latter often referred to as nitinol, referring to its elemental composition and the site where it was first discovered (nol denotes the naval weapons laboratory).

If you search for "Nitinol" on various e-commerce sites, you will find a number of merchants selling shape memory alloy wires and other types of memory materials. In recent years and in the future, shape memory materials are no longer limited to alloys. Shape-memory polymers and other forms of shape-memory materials have been developed and are being used in a variety of commercial applications.