Canadian research group develops unique multiple memory material technology

Citation

(2012), "Canadian research group develops unique multiple memory material technology", Assembly Automation, Vol. 32 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2012.03332aaa.003

Canadian research group develops unique multiple memory material technology

Article Type: News From: Assembly Automation, Volume 32, Issue 1

A research group from the Canadian University of Waterloo (UW) has developed a unique smart material technology which, they claim, will revolutionise the manufacture of a diversity of products. Termed “multiple memory material technology”, it was developed at the UW’s Centre for Advanced Materials Joining and is an advanced form of shape-memory technology. Unlike conventional shape-memory materials which “remember” one shape at one temperature and a second shape at a different temperature, this new technology yields materials with multiple memories, each with a different shape. The process allows virtually any memory material to be embedded with additional local memories. The transition zone can be as small as a few microns in width and multiple zones, each having a discrete transition temperature, can be created. Furthermore, creating these zones side-by-side can allow a unique and smooth shape change in response to changing temperature. According to Ibraheem Khan, a Research Engineer and Graduate Student at UW “We have developed a technology that embeds several memories in a monolithic smart material. In essence, a single material can be programmed to remember more shapes, making it smarter than previous technologies”.

Applications are anticipated in a wide range of products such as medical devices (stents, braces and hearing aids), MEMS, printers, hard drives, automotive components, valves and actuators. Details of the process have not been revealed but it is claimed that it is not limited to specific types of materials and the group has applied it to copper, nickel-copper, nickel-titanium, platinum, zinc and even polymers. Several prototypes have been developed to demonstrate the technology and one mimics a transformer robot. With increasing temperature, the robot’s limbs transform at discrete temperatures, whereas in conventional shape memory technology this is limited to only one transformation temperature. Another recent development is a nickel-titanium shape-memory microgripper, where the actuation and gripping operations are achieved by thermally activating processed material regions which possess unique shape memory transformation temperatures and geometries.

Patents are pending for the technology which is available for licensing.

Contact

Professor Norman Y. Zhou, Director, Centre for Advanced Materials Joining. Tel.: (519) 888-4567, x-36095, e-mail: nzhou@uwaterloo.ca