Is Muscle Wire still a thing?

[Alex Eisenhut]

Cleaning my considerable stash of accumulated nonsense, I found a booklet with samples of Nitinol shape memory alloy.

I remembered about 30 years ago I wanted to build a small robot arm and it never really worked. The enthusiasm and claims in the supplied booklet were a little over the top. Attaching the wire to an electrical contact and also strong mechanical joint was tricky. In any case it was slow to move.

I see this wire is still being sold... but who uses it here? Or back then? I think it was a fad for a while in Radio-Electronics.

[amyk]

I believe it still has niche applications where the speed (or heat generation) is not a concern, and it has to fit in a tight space while providing a lot of force.

[duak]

I first heard it through the grapevine that Nitinol wires are used in Medical implants such as expanding stents.  The stent is first located in the right place, then is heated electrically to flip it into the other state where it expands.  Here's one link: https://www.materialstoday.com/biomaterials/articles/s1369702104002251/

I got a few samples of various types.  Neat stuff!  IMHO, It takes a real inventor to synthesize a solution to a problem with atypical materials like Nitinol.

[james_s]

I remember seeing ads for the stuff in Nuts & Volts back in the 90s. I don't think I ever had any of it myself, it seemed like kind of a neat idea but not really all that useful.

[Alex Eisenhut]

I remember seeing ads for the stuff in Nuts & Volts back in the 90s. I don't think I ever had any of it myself, it seemed like kind of a neat idea but not really all that useful.

Yeah that's what I think too. However, it is a great lesson in marketing. The booklet is never-ending marketing hype, it's great.
I guess I fell for it. 

Looks like the website is no longer in business.

http://www.musclewires.com/

[shakalnokturn]

Used in the Omnipod disposable insulin pump.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1709.06026.pdf

[NiHaoMike]

Used in the Omnipod disposable insulin pump.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1709.06026.pdf

Teardown video:

[ebclr]

https://www.kelloggsresearchlabs.com/