Spanish scientists develop superelastic nanoalloys

A research team at the University of Basque in Spain cut the alloy columnar material with nanoscale technology to obtain superelastic material properties. The study, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, states that when the material is less than 1 micron in diameter, the material properties will be very different from the normal size and will only deform under greater stress. This super-elastic material property opens a new door for the development and application of future flexible electronic devices and micro-devices such as human implanted devices.

Superelasticity is a physical property that allows the material to undergo an additional 10% deformation; for example, stressing a superelastic straight rod can be deformed into a U-shape, and the straight rod can be restored after the stress is removed. Original. José María San Juan, Principal Investigator of the study, said that although superelasticity has been confirmed in macroscopic materials, there have been no studies showing superelasticity in microscopic and nanoscale materials.
Researchers at the Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Basque have found in experiments that a copper-aluminum-nickel alloy material, Cu-14Al-4Ni, has superelastic properties at room temperature. The staff used the focused particle beam as the "atomic knife" to shear the Cu-14Al-4Ni alloy to prepare micro-columnar and nano-column samples with diameters between 2μm and 260nm, and then tested the performance.
For the first time, the researchers found that at scales with material diameters less than 1 micron, the material undergoes significant property changes at the critical stress and has superelastic properties. San Juan added: We have established an atomic model that explains the changes in the columnar structure when stress is applied.
This shape-memory superelastic alloy material will open a new door for the development of flexible micro-systems and electromechanical nano-systems in the near future. Currently, flexible electronics are widely used in apparel, sports shoes and various display devices. Technology, and more importantly, this superelastic alloy technology can also be applied to the field of human implanted chip technology for medical and other technologies. ( Compile: China Superhard Materials Network )