Introduction To Nitinol

Nitinol was developed by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. The name comes from its composition and the discovery team who first recognized the potential of this powerful alloy (NIckel/TItanium/Naval Ordinance Laboratory).

Nitinol alloys are typically made of 55%-56% Nickel and 44%-45% Titanium. Small changes in composition can significantly impact the properties of the material. There are two primary categories of Nitinol. The first, known as "SuperElastic," is characterized by extraordinary recoverable strains and kink resistance. The second category, "Shape Memory" is characterized by it's capacity to recover a pre-set shape when heated above its transformation temperature.

Dynalloy manufactures a variety of NiTi based alloys, which primarily include Shape Memory NiTi Flexinol® actuator wires with a 90 degree C austenite start transition temperature (measured at the Austenite start using 170MPa).