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42420.jpg=Any sport with equipment that is made out of some metal alloy is sure to benefit from shapeable metals. Photo by Jeroen Bosman|35733.jpg=Sometimes, eyeglasses end up in places where you might sit on them or step on them — bend them in some way. Now, they can bend right back in place! Photo by cogdogblog|60955.jpg=People have been playing golf for a long time, but only recently have they been able to use clubs with "smart" metals! Photo by Cobra Golf|34284.jpg=It's now more difficult for the big one to get away! At least, it's more difficult for the big one to break a fishing rod! Photo by wolfsavard
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Consumer Products | Industrial Improvements | Health Advances
 
How about metals with a memory? Not a memory about that amazing golf shot or about the fish that got away, but a "memory" for shape! The International Space Station has been instrumental in the development of metals that can change their shape under certain conditions of temperature and stress and then can return to their original form. The technology has been incorporated into golf clubs, tennis rackets, fishing poles, eye glasses and many other consumer products. These shapeable metals give us better shots, stronger fishing poles, and glasses that won't break if you sit on them!
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Metals have been used in consumer products for at least 7,500 years. Shapeable metals with "memory" in consumer products are a much more recent development! As part of its focus on materials science, the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory supports research on shapeable metals.
In fact, you can credit much of the advance in the technology of shape memory effect (SME) in metals to research in the 1980s that went into building International Space Station. Metals with memory of their original shape are incredibly important. There are many different parts of the ISS connected by joints that require shapeable metals — locking in place when snapping back to their original form! The SME technology has also helped the space station avoid serious damage when space debris hits it. The list goes on, actually.
So what was once Earth research to build things in space is now space research to build things on Earth! The SME technology has already made its way into many products — some for sports and recreation and others for life-saving devices.
Imagine the part of a golf club that strikes the ball (its face) expanding and taking more of the shape of the golf ball for a split second when striking it, causing the clubface to stay in contact with the ball for just a little longer. Golfers will tell you that the effect of SME technology is more spin on the ball with the same amount of distance, and spin is good! For fishing, you don't even have to understand physics to know how a rod with SME technology helps. A rod that's strong and can bend is less likely to break when reeling in the big one! Plus, getting more strength with a lighter-weight rod is nice, too.
Many devices for medical procedures rely on SME technology. For example, some types of surgery require metal staples to connect bony surfaces together, often because of a severe break. Once doctors put the staples in place, the staples return to their original shape and help pull together the bones and promote healing!
On board the National Lab on the ISS, scientists are able to conduct experiments in a microgravity environment. Gravity strongly affects many processes in the physical sciences, including the way liquids move and turn into a solid when the temperature is lowered. (On the ISS, scientists can better manipulate metals in their liquid form and control the process of solidification, which is when a liquid becomes a solid.) And the characteristics of a metal, such as its strength, resistance to heat and corrosion, and response to magnetic fields depend greatly on how the material behaves in liquid form and on how the material solidifies.
In microgravity, scientists can study aspects of how liquids behave and solidify in experiments that would be difficult or even impossible on the ground. For example, buoyancy is a major cause of the movement of molecules within a fluid (convection), and it depends on gravity. Buoyancy is what makes things float on Earth — the upward force a fluid exerts on an object that pushes in the opposite direction of gravity. In the microgravity environment of the ISS, there is effectively no buoyancy, so scientists can examine the other causes of convection.
Studying how fluids behave in this environment reveals important properties of the materials when they are in their solid form, allowing scientists to develop ways to produce improved materials such as metals with memory! It won't be long before SME technology is part of everyone's everyday experiences.
Wyatt, Big Catch
I didn't believe it when I first heard about it. My friend had this new rod that was really light. He said it was made from "space age" metal. I said yeah right. He's also said a lot about these massive fish that he almost caught, so I didn't believe him. He was right though. I just got a new rod. It's really light and really flexible and so far really strong. I can even cast farther with it.
Jenny, Check it out
I play competitive tennis. I LOVE tennis! I recently bought a new racket that has this technology. It's awesome. I feel like I can get so much more spin on the ball and still hit it pretty hard. Maybe it's psychological, but I really think it's made my game better. If you play tennis, try to check it out for yourself.
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