A New Journal Helping to Shape the Future of Materials

Abstract

Shape memory phenomenon refers to the exceptional quality of some materials which exhibit the ability to reverse deformation upon heating and cooling after inelastic deformation. Since most deformations beyond the yield strain are irrecoverable in materials, shape memory alloys’ characteristics are rather unusual. They have been exploited in many applications ranging from biomedical (stents) to automotive (actuators and sensing). The shape memory field has remained vibrant in several fronts in the last six decades starting with the work on Au–Cdand Cu-based alloys in the 1950s and subsequently the discovery of NiTi in the early 1960s. The discovery of the shape memory phenomenon in Fe-based alloys followed in the 1970s. More recently in the 1990s and 2000s, increasing emphasis on ferromagnetic shape memory (the NiMnGa and NiFeGa type), iron-based shape memory alloys (FeNiCoX variety), high-temperature shape memory alloys (NiTiHf/Pt/Pd), and potential biomedical alloys (TiNb type and others) followed. In addition, there are examples of polymers and ceramics exhibiting unusual shape memory characteristics as well. The field has been undergoing a renaissance in the last 10 years, which is evident through increased publication rates (more than 3,000 articles per year) and multiple symposia (exceeding ten) per year. This is partly because of intense intellectual curiosity surrounding these alloys exhibiting such unusual properties, the availability of more powerful experimental and computer tools, and the commercial importance of these alloys in the biomedical, aerospace, and other industries. In addition to the materials science and mechanics communities, the applied mathematics and applied physics communities have contributed to a sound fundamental knowledge in the field. Shape Memory and Superelasticity will therefore provide a natural home for papers from authors with diverse disciplinary backgrounds in engineering and sciences addressing shape memory phenomena. To elaborate further, new materials with exceptional properties have been discovered recently, adding to the repertoire of the well-known shape memory alloys. Researchers of these new materials have put out quality studies keeping the field advancing. These works emphasized both functional and mechanical properties of shape Huseyin Sehitoglu, Editor-in-Chief—Nyquist Chair, University of Illinois.