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Morphing Metals
aarondubrow writes "Imagine a metal that 'remembers' its original, cold-forged shape, and can return to that shape when exposed to heat or a magnetic pulse. Like magic out of a Harry Potter novel, such a metal could contract on command, or swing back and forth like a pendulum. Believe it or not, such metals already exist. First discovered in 1931, they belong to a class of materials called 'shape memory alloys (SMA),' whose unique atomic make-up allows them to return to their initial form, or alternate between forms through a phase change."
What was the purpouse of this summary?
Are we to expect a slew of articles about 80 year old discoveries now?!
SMAs have been well known about for decades, well written about for decades, just what is the point if this article?!
People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
Imagine a carriage that propels itself without the need for horses, fuelled by otherwise useless petroleum spirits. Like magic from some Jules Verne novel, such a carriage could carry a family for hundreds of miles at high speed without tiring, and could revolutionise transportation. Belive it or not, such carriages already exist....
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Shape memory metals seem to come into the public consciousness every decade or so only to fade back into obscurity just as quickly.
Amazing stuff! A couple more decades and we'll have finally moved away from valve-based electronics, too! This truly is an era of change.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
The point:
"These shape memory materials have many applications," said Raymundo Arroyave, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Texas A&M. "Despite being heavily studied for the past twenty to thirty years, most of these materials are limited to work at relatively low temperatures."
In other words, yes - the materials have existed for ages and people know that (anyone ever worn memory-flex glasses, for instance?), but there is now work underway to make the substances more useful in more difficult conditions - TFA mentions aerospace and automotive.
Cheers,
Ian
“These shape memory materials have many applications,” said Raymundo Arroyave, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Texas A&M. “Despite being heavily studied for the past twenty to thirty years, most of these materials are limited to work at relatively low temperatures.” “This new class of high temperature shape memory alloys can be used in sensing and actuation at temperatures upwards of 200 Celsius, which is very important for the aerospace and the automotive industries,” Arroyave said.
IOW what's new (or rather isn't actually yet) is "it works at higher temperatures". And that they are trying to find the new materials by simulating them with a supercomputer. Or so they hope, because "Computational materials science has a reputation for overselling and underperforming, according to Arroyave, but by all measures, the field is maturing by leaps and bounds."
Fandroids hate facts.
I didn't know that the Terminator movies were written by this Harry Potter person.
The terminator movies weren't written. They just put the robots on a stage and let them improvise.
What! It works with Keanu Reeves.
You mean like those bendable glasses (spectacles) are made of? The ones you can sit on and not break. The ones that have been around for long enough to be known by the layman.
Brain surgery - it's not rocket science!
Like magic out of a Harry Potter novel? Come on, It's clearly like T1000 technology out of Terminator 2!
Wasn't that the kind of material witnesses reported finding at the Roswell crash site?
Imagine a car made out of this kind of metal. Someone ploughs into you, tow the car home, apply a flame and presto! off you go again.
A memory-metal Pinto would be self repairing...
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Wow, slow news day. All the way back to 1931 for this story!
America, Home of the Brave.
It works with Keanu Reeves.
Having seen several Keanu films... no it doesn't.
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It works with Keanu Reeves.
Having seen several Keanu films... no it doesn't
Were you Igor, your response to poor Dr.Frankenstein's "It lives! It liiiiiives!!" would probably be "Well yeah but the seams are kind of obvious. And what's with the bolts in the neck?"
I knew a machinist in the physics machine shop at my university who claimed memory metal was really hard to work with. It gums up the cutting tools and creates burrs like crazy. If you try to drill a hole in the stuff you have to be really careful or you'll break the bit.
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
He was fine in a little movie called "The Matrix". Shame they never made a sequel.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.