Polymers that exhibit shape-memory effect (SME) are an important class of materials in medicine, especially for minimally invasive deployment of devices. Professor Subbu Venkatraman and his group from ...

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing unique polymers, which change shape upon heating, to open blocked arteries, probe neurons in the brain and engineer a tougher spine.

MedShape (Atlanta, GA) has been granted a U.S. patent for a shape memory polymer-based technology used in orthopedic applications. Shape memory polymers can "remember" more than one shape and ...

Shape memory materials that can revert back into a desired form after being bent, twisted and stretched are finding their way into a number of applications, ranging from sports bras to more efficient ...

The technique of keyhole surgery minimises scarring, speeds healing and reduces the risk of infection. However, it is extremely difficult to carry out delicate surgical procedures accurately in a ...

Researchers create biodegradable heart valves using shape-memory polymers and 3D bioprinting for safer cardiovascular procedures.

In a recent review published in Micromachines, researchers from Spain and Portugal highlighted the synergistic combination of shape-memory polymers (SMP) with carbon nanotubes (CNT) to enhance ...

Energy is stored in the crystalline structure of the polymer as it's stretched, allowing it to snap back when heated. Share on Facebook (opens in a new window) Share on X (opens in a new window) Share ...

While shape-memory materials do have some interesting potential applications, many of them require the application of heat in order to change shape – and that could cause problems, in ...

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with Zhejiang University in China has developed a new type of polymer that can be caused to revert to multiple different forms on demand. In their paper published in ...