Abstract
Keywords: Nitinol, properties, nonmedical applications, medical applications
The paper presents the principal properties and ones of the most known applications of Nitinol. SMA based on Ni-Ti alloy are the alloys most frequently used in commercial applications because they combine good mechanical properties with shape memory effect. One of the most known intelligent materials is nitinol which offers many functional advantages over conventional implantable alloys. Applications of SMA to the biomedical field have been successful because of their functional qualities, enhancing both the possibility and the execution of less invasive surgeries. The biocompatibility of these alloys is one of their most important features. Different applications exploit remarkable properties of Nitinol like: superelasticity and force hysteresis, the shape memory effect (one-way or twoway), the steerability and torquability, less sensitivity to magnetic resonance imaging, excellent corrosion resistance. Because of their properties, there is a great technological interest in the use of SMA for different applications. Super-elastic Nitinol has become a material of strategic importance as it allows to overcome a wide range of technical and design issues relating to the miniaturization of different medical or nonmedical devices.