Intelligent materials in modern production – Current trends for thermal shape memory alloys

Abstract

Abstract Thermal shape memory alloys show extraordinary material properties and can be used as actuators, dampers and sensors. Since their discovery in the middle of the last century they have been investigated and further developed. The majority of the industrial applications with the highest material sales can still be found in the medical industry, where they are used due to their superelastic and thermal shape memory effect, e.g. as stents or as guidewires and tools in the minimal invasive surgery. Particularly in recent years, more and more applications have been developed for other industrial fields, e.g. for the household goods, civil engineering and automotive sector. In this context it is worth mentioning that for the latter sector, million seller series applications have found their way into some European automobile manufacturers. The German VDI guideline for shape memory alloys introduced in 2017 will give the material a further boost in application. Last but not least the new production technologies of additive manufacturing with metal laser sintering plants open up additional applications for these multifunctional materials. This paper gives an overview of the extraordinary material properties of shape memory components, shows examples of different applications and discusses European trends against the background of the most recent standard and new production technologies.