J. San Juan, M. L. No, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain; C. A. Schuh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Recently, with the revolution of “nano-materials”, there is a growing interest into study the behavior of the materials at nanometer-scale, and developing new applications for Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are good candidate materials for micro-nano sensors and actuators, in spite of some works claiming that the martensitic transformation would be suppressed at nano-scale. Recently we have shown that the thermo-mechanical properties, superelasticity and shape memory take place at very small scale down to the nanometer [1].
In the present work we have micro machined, by Focused Ion Beam technique, some basic micro and nano devices, in Cu-Al-Ni SMA, that exhibit superelasticity and shape memory effect with displacements of some tens or hundreds nanometers with complete reversibility.
These basic micro-nano devices demonstrate the feasibility of more complex smart MEMS and NEMS using these outstanding properties.
[1] San Juan J., Nó M.L., Schuh C.A. Advanced Materials 20, 272-278 (2008).
Summary: Recently, with the revolution of “nano-materials”, there is a growing interest into study the behavior of the materials at nanometer-scale, and developing new applications for Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS).
In the present work we have micro machined, by Focused Ion Beam technique, some basic micro and nano devices, in Cu-Al-Ni SMA, that exhibit superelasticity and shape memory effect with displacements of some tens or hundreds nanometers with complete reversibility. These basic micro-nano devices demonstrate the feasibility of more complex smart MEMS and NEMS using these outstanding properties.
