Brief Description
Advanced Materials, March 2008
Francesco Butera, SAES Getters
Shape memory alloys enable development of simple, very compact, reliable actuators that can be integrated into components and structures. Shape memory alloys are metallic materials that demonstrate the ability to return to some previously defined shape or size when subjected to the appropriate thermal procedure. Generally, these materials can be plastically deformed at some relatively low temperature, and upon exposure to some higher temperature, they return to their shape prior to the deformation. Download the entire article.