From one-off concepts to end-to-end solutions, SMA Lab Solutions by Smarter Alloys offers the most advanced materials and capabilities to help plan, create, test and manufacture products for the medical, auto, aerospace and clean energy sectors.
Smarter Alloys is energizing a transformation in the design and utility of products and devices used by everyone, everywhere. Our vision is the seamless integration of smart materials into a better everyday life. We work with businesses across a wide range of industries to enhance products and services with cutting edge materials engineering. Our technology for shape memory alloys is already being applied in medical devices, automotive actuators and clean technology.
Find out how we can help your business. We have worked with automotive and aerospace customers across the globe to create components and systems that meet strict reliability requirements.
Our materials expertise and proprietary technology make smaller, lighter, and more robust designs a possibility in even the harshest environments. From orthodontics to orthopedics, advances in material science have been improving medical care for ages. The medical device industry demands rigorous quality to exacting specifications. Waste heat is all around us. Smarter Alloys is taking on the challenge of generating clean energy from industrial low grade waste heat sources.
As the ball comes into contact with the clubface, the insert experiences a change in metallurgical structure. The elasticity increases the spin on the ball, and gives the ball more "bite" as it hits the green. Helicopter blades: Performance for helicopter blades depend on vibrations; with memory metals in micro processing control tabs for the trailing ends of the blades, pilots can fly with increased precision.
Eyeglass Frames: In certain commercials, eyeglass companies demonstrate eyeglass frames that can be bent back and forth, and retain their shape.
These frames are made from memory metals as well, and demonstrate super-elasticity. Figure 10 illustrates this device Orthopedic treatment also exploits the properties of SMA in the physiotherapy of semi-standstill muscles. Figure 11 shows gloves that are composed of shape memory wires on regions of the fingers These wires reproduce the activity of hand muscles, promoting the original hand motion. The two-way shape memory effect is exploited in this situation.
When the glove is heated, the length of the wires is shortened. On the other hand, when the glove is cooled, the wires return to their former shape, opening the hand.
As a result, semi-standstill muscles are exercised. Research for obtaining porous SMA is currently underway. These alloys have a great potential application in orthopedic implants since their porosity enables the transport of body fluids from outside to inside the bone, which is in the healing process.
This fact optimizes the treatment and also helps the fixation of the implant Figure 8. Spinal vertebrae A and shape memory spacers B in the martensitic state left and in the original shape right. Figure 9. A , Orthopedic staples. B , Staples placed in a human foot. C , X-ray of a human foot. Figure Shape memory bone plates. A , Plates fixed upon a human jaw. B , Detail of the plate and the screw. Shape memory alloy glove.
A , Low temperature position. B , High temperature position. In recent years, medicine and the medical industry have focused on the concept of less invasive surgical procedures Following this tendency, shape memory surgical instruments have been created and are becoming noticeable. Among the advantages of these tools, one can emphasize their flexibility as well as their possibility to recover their former shape when heated.
The SMA basket is used to remove kidney, bladder and bile duct stones This basket is inserted into the human body in the same way as the Simon filter. Figure 12 presents a sequence of pictures related to the basket opening as it is heated. The intra-aortic balloon pump Figure 13 is used to unblock blood vessels during angioplasty. The device has an SMA tube whose diameter is reduced compared to polymer materials due to its pseudoelastic effect.
Moreover, it also allows greater flexibility and torsion resistance when compared to the same tube made of stainless steel Laparoscopy is another procedure where SMA have been employed.
Figure 14 shows some surgical tools where the actions of grippers, scissors, tongs and other mechanisms are performed by SMA. These devices allow smooth movements tending to mimic the continuous movement of muscles.
Moreover, these devices facilitate access to intricate regions. Sequence of opening of the shape memory basket.
Intra-aortic balloon pump. Laparoscopy tools. The actions of grippers, scissors, tongs and other mechanisms are performed by SMA.
Applications of SMA to the biomedical field have been successful because of their functional qualities, enhancing both the possibility and the execution of less invasive surgeries.
The biocompatibility of these alloys is one of their most important features. Different applications exploit the shape memory effect one-way or two-way and the pseudoelasticity, so that they can be employed in orthopedic and cardiovascular applications, as well as in the manufacture of new surgical tools. Therefore, one can say that smart materials, especially SMA, are becoming noticeable in the biomedical field.
Probably, the adverse characteristic of biocompatibility of nickel is one of the most critical point concerning the spreading use of Ni-Ti alloys. Address for correspondence: M. E-mail: savi ufrj. Abrir menu Brasil. Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research.
Abrir menu. Machado M. Savi About the authors. Shape memory alloys; Biomaterials. Machado 1 and M. ASM International, Ohio, Mantovani D Shape memory alloys: Properties and biomedical applications. Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society , Recent developments on the research of shape memory alloys. Intermetallics , 7: Recent development of TiNi-based shape memory alloys in Twain.
Materials Chemistry and Physics , Shape memory materials: state of art and requirements for future applications. Journal de Physique IV , 7: Non-medical applications of shape memory alloys. Materials Science and Engineering A , Similarly, a fire safety valve incorporating an SMA activator shuts off the flow of a flammable or toxic gas if a fire occurs.
A construction application uses an SMA actuator to lock ceiling plates in place if the temperature rises above 60C protecting pipes, cables and the floor above from the effects of the fire. SMAs can also be used as an improved bimetallic strip to regulate water temperature. An anti-scald device in a shower head introduces cold water if the water temperature becomes too high. This application uses an SMA compression spring and a biasing steel spring.
At high temperatures, the SMA spring expands and opens a needle valve allowing cold water to enter the mixing chamber. When the temperature is reduced, the SMA returns to martensite and the steel spring resets the shape memory spring and simultaneously closes the needle valve. A domestic deep fat fryer uses an SMA blade to prevent the basket being lowered into the oil until the correct temperature of C has been attained.
This high temperature application favors the use of a CuAlNi alloy. Similarly, CuAlNi alloys are preferred for circuit breakers to prevent overload electric currents heating wires and cables above C. Superelastic SMAs are used in the frames of indestructible spectacles. Superelastic wire also makes excellent springs. Many biomedical applications use superelastic wires and tubes. These include catheters and guide wires for steering catheters. Superelastic arch wires for orthodontic correction have proven particularly effective by producing large rapid movement of teeth.
Many structures are designed with reinforcements and backup systems to provide for the worst case scenario. These structures therefore use more materials and energy than is required for normal use. Smart materials would sense their environment and modify their behavior in extreme circumstances thus avoiding the need for reinforcement or backup systems. Smart materials would be composite structures with embedded sensors and actuators.
Thus the concrete infrastructure of a bridge could contain sensors looking for cracks or corrosion and embedded SMA actuators would counteract the strain induced by this degradation. Similarly, an aircraft body could contain a thin layer of sensors that would monitor subtle physical and chemical changes associated with fatigue and actuate a layer of SMA to compensate for these changes and prevent failure.
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