Smart polymers with “life-like” properties: due to dynamic chemical bonds the micrometric 3D structures can grow eight-fold in just a few hours and harden. Scale: 20 micrometres (µm). This image may ...

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 ...

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 ...

Thermal image of a metal test specimen undergoing the photothermal heating method. (Image courtesy of American Institute of Physics) Researchers at Arizona State University (Tempe) have created a ...

Shape-memory polymers have long intrigued materials scientists because they can be bent or twisted into a new configuration, which they’ll hold until some stimulus—such as heat—reverts them to their ...

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 ...

The shape-memory effect, as exhibited by metal alloys such as nitinol as well as many polymers, is the ability of a material to change its dimension in a predefined way in response to an external ...