A joint research team from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S.A., headed by Professor of Physical Metallurgy, Mr. José María San Juan, has shown that copper, aluminium and nickel alloys with shape memory have advantageous features for their application in different fields, including biomedicine.
More specifically, these alloys have a much higher damping index in nano-sizes than in macroscopic dimensions. In a few milliseconds, these alloys acquire excellent ultrahigh damping properties that make them ideal materials for eliminating nano-scale vibrations or impacts in sensors and detectors

The practical application of this feature will make it possible to create more sensitive microsensors and microdevices for use in biomedicine, as well as in aeronautics or robotics (disciplines where alloys of materials with shape memory are extensively used), automotive (more positive and longer-lasting ABS brakes) and domestic appliances (washing machines with quieter and more stable spin cycles).
This discovery by the international team led by UPV/EHU Professor José María San Juan has been published in the scientific journal 'Nature Nanotechnology', the world’s most important publication in its speciality, entitled “Nanoscale shape-memory alloys for ultrahigh mechanical damping”