Study of the Degradation of the Two-way Effect in NiTi

I studied the degradation of the Two-Way Shape Memory Effect, where the material ‘remembers’ a cold shape and a separate hot shape, in Nickel Titanium over several thousand thermal cycles with respect to the cycling temperatures. From this work I learned how to increase the lifetime of the effect for applications and I discovered more about the mechanisms of degradation.

Name: Scott Alexander Skirlo
Stats: 18 year-old Senior from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA
Influential Person: Prof. Dava Newman
Career Goal: Become an electrical or mechanical engineer.
Field Interest: I first became interested in studying NiTi when I saw professor Dava Newman on National Geographic working on a prototype for a skin-tight space suit called the biosuit. This was embedded with special metal wires made of NiTi that could contract when heated to control the pressure.

Tags: education, innovation, inspire, Intel, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Intel ISEF

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