The future of bumpers and body panels

[240260280z]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32886000

[Mark Maras]

I watched a documentary about these new alloys. Many different options are being investigated. Some will recover with heat or cold. I can imagine body shops having a drive-in freezer to straighten sheet metal or park your damaged ride until winter. Self healing crumple zones. I doubt we'll see this in cars anytime soon. Maybe NASCAR could lead the way. It would make interesting pit stops.

[psdenno]

So, if you take a sheet of the alloy and press/deform it into the shape of a car fender, what keeps it from turning back into a flat sheet of the alloy?

Dennis

[Mark Maras]

That's an excellent question. Unfortunately, I don't recall the documentary covering that aspect. They did show a car body panel that had substantial damage, repair itself in a sub zero temperature. I wonder if you dropped the temp. too far, you wouldn't end up with a flat sided flat topped vehicle resembling the Cube.

[psdenno]

Maybe the memory alloy experiences temporary amnesia until it's formed into a useable shape.   ::

Dennis

[Mark Maras]

I'll bet they submerge it in alcohol to induce the amnesia. Works on humans too.

[Kurbycar32]

Im thinking valve and suspension springs might benefit from something like this.  Also those damn springs on the AA battery holders..

[Captain Obvious]

That concept has been around for quite some time: