Wire products, such as round and flat wire, strands, cables, and tubing, are made from a shape memory material in which inherent defects within the material are isolated from the bulk material phase of the material within one or more stabilized material phases, such that the wire product demonstrates improved fatigue resistance. In one application, a method of mechanical conditioning in accordance with the present disclosure isolates inherent defects in nickel-titanium or NiTi materials in fields of a secondary material phase that are resistant to crack initiation and/or propagation, such as a martensite phase, while the remainder of the surrounding defect-free material remains in a primary or parent material phase, such as an austenite phase, whereby the overall superelastic nature of the material is preserved.

Disclosed herein is a shape memory alloy comprising 48 to 50 atomic percent nickel, 15 to 30 atomic percent hafnium, 1 to 5 atomic percent aluminum; with the remainder being titanium. Disclosed herein too is a method of manufacturing a shape memory alloy comprising mixing together to form an alloy nickel, hafnium, aluminum and titanium in amounts of 48 to 50 atomic percent nickel, 15 to 30 atomic percent hafnium, 1 to 5 atomic percent aluminum; with the remainder being titanium; solution treating the alloy at a temperature of 700 to 1300° C. for 50 to 200 hours; and aging the alloy at a temperature of 400 to 800° C. for a time period of 50 to 200 hours to form a shape memory alloy.

A method may include fused filament fabricating a fused filament fabricated component by delivering a softened filament to selected locations at or adjacent to a build surface. The softened filament may include a sacrificial binder and a powder including a shape memory alloy (SMA). The method also may include removing substantially all the sacrificial binder from the fused filament fabricated component to leave an unsintered component; and sintering the unsintered component to join particles of the SMA and form an SMA component.

An apparatus for fabrication of a multiple memory material including: a feeding assembly for feeding shape memory material; a processing station aligned with the feeding assembly to receive the shape memory material to be processed; at least one energy source aligned with an energy source aperture to provide energy to the shape memory material; a shielding gas provider attached to a shielding gas engagement portion to provide shielding gas; and a controller configured to control the feeding assembly, the shielding gas provider and the energy source according to predetermined parameters to form the multiple memory material. A method for fabricating a multiple memory material including: determining process parameters for the shape memory material, via a controller; receiving shape memory material at a feeding assembly; feeding the shape memory material, via the feed assembly, to a processing station; providing shielding gas to the processing station, via a shielding gas provider; and providing energy to the shape memory material, via at least one energy source, based on the process parameters to produce the multiple memory material.

A method of forming an aircraft component includes providing an aluminum alloy. The method further includes mixing a shape memory alloy (SMA) with the aluminum alloy to form a combination of the SMA and the aluminum alloy. The method further includes forming the aircraft component with the combination of the SMA and the aluminum alloy.

A copper alloy disclosed in the present description has a basic alloy composition represented by Cu.sub.100(x+y)Sn.sub.xAl.sub.y (where 8x12 and 8y9 are satisfied), in which a main phase is a CuSn phase with Al dissolved therein, and the CuSn phase undergoes martensitic transformation when heat-treated or worked. A method for producing a copper alloy disclosed in the present description is a casting step of melting and casting a raw material containing Cu, Sn, and Al and having a basic alloy composition represented by Cu.sub.100(x+y)Sn.sub.xAl.sub.y (where 8x12 and 8y9 are satisfied) so as to obtain a cast material, and a homogenization step of homogenizing the cast material in a temperature range of a CuSn phase so as to obtain a homogenized material, the method includes at least the casting step.

A camera device in or on a vehicle includes a lens module, a driving module having at least one shape memory alloy wire, and a converting module. The camera device is connected to a control device and receives control signals from the control device. The control signal drives the lens module to move for purpose of automatic focusing by applying heat to energize or de-energize the length or shape of the shape memory alloy wire.

The present invention provides a shape-memory alloy including a AuCuAl alloy having 20 at % or more and 40 at % or less Cu and 15 at % or more and 30 at % or less Al, with the balance being Au and inevitable impurities. The shape-memory alloy has a Vickers hardness of 360 Hv or less. The AuCuAl alloy of the present invention is an alloy capable of developing both biocompatibility and a shape-memory effect, and further capable of achieving artifactlessness in a magnetic environment. The AuCuAl alloy can be produced by heat-treating a clad material formed of a combination of a hollow material made of a AuCu alloy and a core material made of metallic Al at 500 C. or more and 700 C. or less.

In a method for forming a shape memory alloy wire a shape memory alloy composition of CuAlMnNi excluding grain refiner elements, is mixed, including between about 20 at % and about 28 at % Al, between about 2 at % and about 4 at % Ni, between about 3 at % and about 5 at % Mn, and Cu as a remaining balance. The mixture is heated between about 1100 C. and about 1400 C. and ejected from a crucible, at an ejection pressure of between about 3 bar and about 5 bar through a nozzle having a nozzle diameter of between about 200 microns and about 280 microns, to a face of a melt spinning wheel with speed of between about 9 m/s and about 13 m/s until there is formed a shape memory alloy wire having a length of at least about 1.5 meters and a diameter of no more than about 150 microns.

A method of manufacturing a medical linear member includes a step of forming a first spiral body (1) whose cross-sectional shape is a substantially perfect circular shape by spirally winding a base body (3) having a plurality of arrayed wires (2) formed of a shape memory alloy, around a winding core (4), a step of performing a first shape memory process on the first spiral body (1), a step of cutting the first spiral body (1) into a first predetermined length, a step of removing the winding core (4) from the cut first spiral body (1), a step of forming a second spiral body (6) whose cross-sectional shape is a flat shape by compressing the first spiral body (1) in a diametral direction, and a step of performing a second shape memory process on the second spiral body (6).