Memory alloy that bounces back into shape 10 million times

Admittedly, I'm a bit far from testing any of my samples of NiTiNOL ten million times, so I can't guarantee that my metal samples don't survive ten million cycles.

Professor Manfred Wuttig, however, seems able to make an actual claim that his new memory alloy (NiTiNOL doped with some copper), can survive ten million cycles.

And that's certainly something. In fact, it's the kind of something that makes a memory alloy far more useful. See, most memory alloys return to their shape above their transition temperature, but every transition sees the sample adding dislocations to the original shape during the transition leading to eventual functional fatigue and a change in the transition temperatures. After only a few transitions, the sample is less and less back to its original shape. A sample that can return to its original shape for ten million cycles, though, is a significant breakthrough.

Check out one of the these articles covering the original research...

• Popular Mechanics
• BBC
• Born2Invest