Contact: Diane Banegas
dbanegas@nsf.gov
703-292-4489
National Science Foundation

Magnetic Foam

Caption: The porous nature of nickel-manganese-gallium alloy gives it "shape-memory" properties. The material lengthens, or strains, up to 10 percent when subjected to a magnetic field. The NSF-funded researchers believe the porous alloy has great potential for uses that require light weight and a large strain, such as space and automotive applications and tiny motion control devices or biomedical pumps with no moving parts.

Credit: P. Müllner, M. Chmelius and S. Donovan, Boise State University, and D. Dunand and Y. Boonyoungmaneerat, Northwestern University.

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