Memory wire and eBay...

[RhinosoRoss]

I've just received some 'memory wire' from eBay only to find it's actually just ordinary stainless steel...
Looking at a few other sellers, they even call it 'stainless steel memory wire'.
That confuses me: 'Memory wire' isn't stainless steel!!!
Is it just a beaders convention to call stainless steel memory wire?

I've used thicker versions in robotics, and as this article explains
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_memory_alloy the three main types are the copper-zinc-aluminum-nickel, copper-aluminium-nickel, and nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloys.

Stainless has no memory properties at all!

[RhinosoRoss]

I've found the answer myself in a beading site:

Memory Wire - is a pre-coiled stainless steel wire that retains it shape. Very popular for wine charm markers and bracelets.

so it's not memory alloy, just a boring spring!

[RhinosoRoss]

Some American has patented memory alloy jewellery!
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/66...scription.html

[silvermaid]

I never realised that 'proper' memory wire was different from the stuff we buy as memory wire. Even the bigger firms like beadalon and beadsmith call it memory wire.

Are there any advantages/dis-advantages between the two when used in jewellery?

Melanie

[snowgoose]

i guess the main dissadvantage is the nickel content in the proper memory wire and with the uk laws this wouldnt be allowed.

[RhinosoRoss]

Memory alloy changes shape dramatically when it reaches a certain temperature: not something I thought would be desirable in jewellery, which was why I bought some: to see why you were all using it!

Rest your wrist on your coffee mug and your bracelet would suddenly spring into a new shape!

You can teach it what shape to jump to by clamping it and making it very hot. once it's cool again, bend it to any shape and it will return to the clamped shape at about 45C (varies on the alloy). I was wondering if it had more subtle behaviour when worn next to the skin or something! Clearly I was quite wrong!

[snowgoose]

seems interesting as a gimmick idea for something like a magical shape changing bracelet or something.

[Pebbles]

I have never had a problem with my memory wire forgetting it's shape!

I bought a memory foam mattress once and my flatmate thought it "remembered" you!

very funny!

[Aviya Glass]

Rest your wrist on your coffee mug and your bracelet would suddenly spring into a new shape!

Could be great fun to watch as a 'you've been framed' moment

Memory wire bracelet sounds much more glam than boring spring bracelet which probably explains the misnomer

[RhinosoRoss]

I've just bought some proper memory-alloy wire from eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nitinol-muscle...1%7C240%3A1318

and will see if it is remotely interesting as a jewellery wire and report back!

[Pebbles]

Seems quite expensive!

Let us know what you do with it though

[LvUEudora]

o(∩_∩)o... it's so interesting. do you usually go to ebay to buy something?

[shiner]

No ebay is a very last resort when I've exhausted all other likely sources

[RhinosoRoss]

Well, I've received my memory-alloy wire, tested it to destruction (the fumes still linger in the air ) and for the time being can think of little of value that it could offer to things made here! Certainly nothing for beading.

You can use it like a muscle, to contract and pull things, or teach it a shape which it will remember - then when you heat it or pass an electric current through it, it will jump back into the shape you taught it...

The problems are:
1) It takes quite a high temperature or current.
2) It moves violently and unpredictably so if you're using electricity, it can move in such a way as to make a shorter circuit and then becomes a heater and can get red-hot and even burn right through!
3) It's fairly springy, so difficult to persuade into the shape you want it to remember. I was contemplating bending it to a heart or something and then getting it to jump into that shape after being coiled or straightened, but the heart shape is never tidy. Much thicker wire may alter this, but would also be more expensive and presumably need higher currents or temperatures to change.

The only thing I can imagine it being used for in crafts would be some kind of candle-powered machine. Perhaps a candle moving a helicopter-like vane which exposes the wire to the candle's heat intermittently and the wire could then pull something else...

Ah, well - it was worth a try!

[snowgoose]

iv been waiting to hear about your trials with this but sad to hear its of no use to us jewellery makers, well you wuddnt know without having a play