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 pre-deformed shape when heated. This material is a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems. Shape-memory alloys have applications in robotics and automotive, aerospace and biomedical industries
NASA Glenn Research Center’s Santo Padula presents their new innovation in metal technologies at Westec 2015, Shape Memory Alloy’s (SMA). SMAs are being developed for use as actuators, switches, and other devices in aerospace, automotive, and many other industries.
Birds are so much more maneuverable than our airplanes are today. Birds can hover, they can fly backwards and sideways. And insects — oh forget it! — upside down, loop-de-loop, all sorts of things.” Anna McGowan, program manager for the Morphing Project at NASA’s Langley Research Center
Self-healing wings that flex and react like living organisms, versatile bombers that double as agile jet fighters, and swarms of tiny unmanned aircraft are just a few of the science-fiction-like possibilities that these next-generation technologies could make feasible in the decades ahead.
Tomorrow’s airplanes could have self-bending wings, which might operate without flaps –thus reducing drag and saving on fuel costs.
movie about some of the next-generation technologies being developed at LaRC. Image courtesy of Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center.
At the core of this impending quantum leap in aerospace technology are “smart” materials — substances with uncanny properties, such as the ability to bend on command, “feel” pressure, and transform from liquid to solid when placed in a magnetic field.
“This is technology that most people aren’t aware even exists,” said Anna McGowan, program manager for the Morphing Project at LaRC, which develops these new technologies.
LaRC is also developing customized variations of piezoelectric materials. These substances link electric voltage to motion. If you contort a piezoelectric material a voltage is generated. Conversely, if you apply a voltage, the material will contort.
Scientists can use such properties to design piezoelectric materials that function as strain sensors or as “actuators” — devices that create small motions in machines, like the moving of wing flaps.
