Phenomenology of Shape Memory Alloys

The strong demand for high performance structural and mechanical systems for aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing industries has promoted the evolution of advanced materials. Materials cannot respond to changes of the surrounding environment and are not able to operate under the service conditions for which they are not optimally designed. There is a significant need for the evolution of advanced active materials with enhanced performance whose elastodynamic response can be optimally adapted in real time under a broad range of service conditions. Unlike the common structures, shape-memory materials are stimuli-responsive materials, they have the extraordinary feature to respond to external stimuli adapting their structure to the surrounding environment and compensating for undesired effects. A shape change because of a temperature change is called thermally induced shape-memory effect.