Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Research for soft robotics has intrigued me and has led me to find Nitinol. Nitinol was theoretically perfect for my needs. It used electricity and required no dangerous construction. The problems was the lack of ability to self manufacture, lack of overall strength, and terrible insulation of heat. It wouldn’t make since to make a safe robot out of Nitinol because it could catch on fire and requires a good amount of electricity to power a single wire. Electroactive polymers (EAP) were also great theoretically. The problems were cost and high amounts electricity to power it. If someone knows a safe alternative please let me know. I saw Nitinol is formed using vacuum induction melting which the machines cost an arm and a leg. If you have Aluminium and titanium or other combinations of elements would that yield a similar product using VIM and be just like Nitinol but with different characteristics?

Hi Buck,
Welcome to Scibuddies. Your questions were very interesting but I did not understand what you were proposing to do. My knowledge of robotics engineering is pretty slim. What is 'soft' robotics, for example?
I looked up nitinol and I found that it is an alloy of nickel and titanium with some unusual properties. There are also alloys of titanium (Ti) that contain aluminum or other metals and they are categorized as alpha and beta types which refer to something about their thermal response, hardness and tensile strength.
Can you please post again and explain exactly what kind of robot you are trying to build?
Also, you might want to post your project on the Physical Sciences forum because those experts know more about engineering and materials.
Good luck!
Sybee