Nitinol Alloy Products

Please note contraction time is directly related to electric current imposed. The guidelines are only approximations, since other factors like ambient temperature, air currents, and heat sinking will vary with specific devices.

Nitinol Wire Precrimped

There are two kinds of crimps available: ring terminals and barrel crimps (see diagram below).

There is a $30.00 setup fee with each crimping order. When calculating your assembly costs remember to add the cost of the Nitinol wire used (see wire price list above).
Note: Crimps cannot be sold as stand alone units.

Click here to view an illustration showing the method of measuring, for ordering, pre-crimped nitinol wire.

Nitinol Heat Engine Kit

Click on picture to see kit components

Heatmobile - Nitinol Metal Engine driven by hot water.

Heatmobile - a successor of the famous Thermobile of Frederick Wang - is back on the market. The Heatmobile is a very special kind of heat engine that demonstrates the conversion of heat into mechanical energy.

It uses the unique property of Nitinol alloy to generate mechanical motion from heat. Nitinol has trained into a straight shape at high temperature (about 600C) and allowed to cool to room temperature, where it can be easily deformed and welded into a loop.

When heated above a transition temperature (in this application about 50C to 70C) the Nitinol object abruptly returns to its high-temperature shape with a substantially force that is able to drive the two connected plastic wheels.
Construction Manual (.pdf file 185K)

BioMetal Helix

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BioMetal Helix Dimensions (.006 x .70) inches. The advantage of the BioMetal Helix over standard Nitinol wire is that it may be stretched and contracted to twice its length. In this case a .75 inch length may be stretch to 1.5 inches.

Weight liftable on recover: 30 grams
Total resistance: 7.5 ohms
Typical activation current at 20C: 150mA
Typical cycle rate at 20C: per minute.

Lo-Res movie
Hi-Res movie

Includes one SMA coil spring 20 mm long (in contracted state), 4 spectacle terminals, 4 eyelet terminals, instructions.

BioMetal Fiber

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BioMetal Fiber Dimensions .15mm x 1 meter (or .006 x 39 inches english).

The BioMetal Fiber is a fiber-like actuator (drive unit) designed to contract (tense) and extend (relax) like muscles. The key feature of this product is its flexible, smooth movements like those of real life. Although soft and pliable like a nylon thread under normal conditions, it becomes stiff like a piano wire and sharply contracts, when a current is fed through it.

Practical force produed: 150 grams
Total resistance: 61 ohms/ meter
Standard drive voltage (V/M) 20
Typical activation current at 20°C: 340mA
Typical cycle rate at 20°C: per minute.

Nitinol Expansion Spring

When cool, spring can be extended to 14 cm (5-1/2"). Heated, contracts to 29 mm (1-1/8") overall. With 350 gram hanging mass shrinks from 60 mm (2-1/4") long coil (cool) to 30 mm (1-1/8") long (heated) with 2 Amps. 6 mm (1/4") coil, 750 mm (.03") wire, activates at 45-55C equivalent to (131-149F). Use several in series for greater distance, or in parallel for greater force.

Nitinol Compression Spring

Compression Spring When cool, can be pressed down to 16 mm
( 5/8" ). Heated with 3 Amps, it extends to 30 mm (1-1/4") with over 4 Newton's of force! 8 mm (5/16") coil, 950 mm (.04") wire, activates at 55-65C equivalent to (131-149F).

BioMetal Silent Arm

BioMetal Silent Arm Demo. For more information download the Silent Arm PDF Manual (20K)

Nitinol Butterfly

Nitinol demonstration of long life and durability, butterfly gently flaps its wings, beautiful lifelike motion makes it a great gift as well. Uses wall transformer for power (included).

Nitinol Air Valve

Dynalloy designed this valve to show how simply an electronic air valve could be manufactured with Flexinolactuator wire. We found that even these simple demonstration valves are useful for many applications of air flow control. They can handle up to 75 psi, proportional control, much smaller (as you can see sitting next to this dime), and cost up to 1/10 of comparable electronic valves with the same characteristics.

Live Wire

Fun and educational! You can bend it while cold, then heat it in hot water, and it will straighten quite forcefully. You can modify the remembered shape by annealing the wire. For more information Click Here.

Nitinol Memory Wire

This nitinol metal changes phase around 50C. Bend it, then drop it into hot water and watch it return to its original shape! Can be set into different shapes by heating with a candle flame. Diameter: 0.75mm(approximately .03")

For more information on Nitinol material click here or Download this PDF file.

Nitinol Wire is priced per foot.

Nitinol Memory Wire Samples

These 3" samples of memory wire can be wound around a pencil to form a coil. When immersed in hot water, the wire returns to its original shape. The wires can be "set" into other shapes, using a candle flame. These wires have a smaller diameter than our memory wire by the foot.

For more information on Nitinol material click here or Download this PDF file.

Nitinol Wire Samples are priced per 3" piece.