After being severely and quasi-plastically distorted, shape memory materials (SMMs) are able to recover their original shape when a right stimulus is applied 1. This phenomenon is known as the shape ...

Polymers that exhibit shape-memory effect (SME) are an important class of materials in medicine, especially for minimally invasive deployment of devices. Professor Subbu Venkatraman and his group from ...

Shape memory materials that can revert back into a desired form after being bent, twisted and stretched are finding their way into a number of applications, ranging from sports bras to more efficient ...

Imagine a world of shape-shifters. A surgeon inserts a small lump of plastic into an anesthetized patient and, like magic, it expands into a life-saving mesh tube that keeps a formerly clogged artery ...

The technique of keyhole surgery minimises scarring, speeds healing and reduces the risk of infection. However, it is extremely difficult to carry out delicate surgical procedures accurately in a ...

The shape-memory polymer was used to 3D-print several structures, including a replica of the Eiffel tower. Microstereolithography, pioneered by the researchers, uses light from a projector to print ...

Researchers have uncovered shape-memory properties in a commercially available polymer that’s widely used to make fuel-cell membranes. The polymer, Nafion, can take on four different shapes in ...