We all know about dental braces, some people must have experienced it too but have we ever thought which metal is used to make it?
Is it the same metal that can remember its shape?
SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY
A Shape Memory Alloy (SMA, Smart Metal, Memory Metal, Memory Alloy, Muscle Wire, Smart Alloy) is an alloy that remembers its original shape and that when deformed returns to its preformed shape when heated.
Shape Memory Metals that were developed by NASA for the space industry, and have been used for increasing applications on earth such as Dental braces, Stent for clogged blood vessels, Mending Bones, Robotics, Couplers in F 14 Fighter Planes, and Fire Sprinklers.
Scientists have used this metal to develop a large antenna that can be folded and carried into space by spacecraft. Once in orbit, it is released, and the antenna opens up because of the Sun’s heat.
Some shape memory alloys remember one shape when they are hot and a different one when they are cold, so if you cool them they form a different shape and if you heat them they forget that shape and flex into a different one.
