shape memory tagged posts

A single crystal of CaFe2As2 (scale bar 1 mm). Right: a micropillar of CaFe2As2, used to test its elasticity (scale bar 1 ?m). Credit: Image courtesy of DOE/Ames Laboratory

Scientists have discovered super-elastic shape-memory properties in a material that could be applied for use as an actuator in the harshest of conditions, such as outer space, and might be the first in a whole new class of shape memory materials. These materials “remember” their original shape and return to it after they are deformed. They are commonly metallic alloys that make possible “unbreakable” eyeglass frames and quieter jet engines.

But the material in this research, CaFe2As2, is not a metallic alloy but an intermetallic more well-known for its novel superconducting properties...

New flexible polymeric material capable of self-repairing. Credit: Image courtesy of Asociación RUVID

The material, a type of transparent resin, has the property of healing itself; for example, when it is cut with scissors in half and put back in contact, it rejoins itself within 10-15 seconds without using any external source. Another feature of this material is that the cutting-joining process can be performed in water or in any other fluid substance. “This property is a novelty all over the world that gives way to the development of different materials for their applications in sectors such as medicine, cosmetics, space industry, automotive, and many others,” as stated the 3 researchers, Prof José Miguel Martín, Jose Antonio Jofre and chemist Andrés Yanez...