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News Release 07-187
Metal Foam Has a Good Memory
Poking holes in magnetic alloy improves its shape-morphing capability
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The porous nature of nickel-manganese-gallium alloy gives it "shape-memory" properties. The material lengthens, or strains, up to 10 percent when subjected to a magnetic field. The NSF-funded researchers believe the porous alloy has great potential for uses that require light weight and a large strain, such as space and automotive applications and tiny motion control devices or biomedical pumps with no moving parts.
Credit: P. Müllner, M. Chmielus and S. Donovan, Boise State University, and D. Dunand and Y.
Boonyongmaneerat, Northwestern University.
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