5 ms·

I think this is more so just spring steel. Unless there's a heat source hidden in there. It's also kind of funny that they admit they'll have to wrap the metal

I think this is more so just spring steel. Unless there's a heat source hidden in there. It's also kind of funny that they admit they'll have to wrap the metal in a rubbery substance for traction. So we're pretty much back at steel radial tires.

Robotbeat 6y ago
In a way, yeah it is a better spring steel. Many shape memory alloys, besides their famous shape-changing-under-heating behavior, can also have superelastic properties, meaning they can reversible handle much larger strains than typical alloys (by a reversible phase change in the material). This means they can work as a better spring alloy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoelasticity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoelasticity
- scythe 6y ago
  Nitinol typically has tight compositional tolerances and is used for things like stents and catheters. It's nothing new in the medical field. But it'd be pretty damn impressive to manufacture something so finely structured out of nitinol at scale.
  - Robotbeat 6y ago
    Oh, it’s not that uncommon. You can buy Nitinol wire pretty cheaply, although not the medical-approved stuff.
mdip 6y ago
I wonder, though, if the rubber can be more rugged as a result. Materials/chemistry is so far out of my wheelhouse, I can't even imagine what that might be. But I'd imagine there might be a way to optimize the synthetic rubber for handling friction against the road surface while not having to optimize it for handling pneumatic pressure. Unfortunately, I suspect that the things done to make the tire survive road friction better also make it grip the road worse. And that there's likely not a chemical formula that one can apply which wouldn't work equally well under a pressurized tire... but hey, most things are evolution, not revolution, anyway, right?
itronitron 6y ago
I could see these being much better for mountain bikes than for road bikes as the woven surface might actually improve traction on mountain bike trails.

Robotbeat 6y ago

In a way, yeah it is a better spring steel. Many shape memory alloys, besides their famous shape-changing-under-heating behavior, can also have superelastic properties, meaning they can reversible handle much larger strains than typical alloys (by a reversible phase change in the material). This means they can work as a better spring alloy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoelasticity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoelasticity

scythe 6y ago
Nitinol typically has tight compositional tolerances and is used for things like stents and catheters. It's nothing new in the medical field. But it'd be pretty damn impressive to manufacture something so finely structured out of nitinol at scale.
- Robotbeat 6y ago
  Oh, it’s not that uncommon. You can buy Nitinol wire pretty cheaply, although not the medical-approved stuff.

mdip 6y ago

I wonder, though, if the rubber can be more rugged as a result. Materials/chemistry is so far out of my wheelhouse, I can't even imagine what that might be. But I'd imagine there might be a way to optimize the synthetic rubber for handling friction against the road surface while not having to optimize it for handling pneumatic pressure. Unfortunately, I suspect that the things done to make the tire survive road friction better also make it grip the road worse. And that there's likely not a chemical formula that one can apply which wouldn't work equally well under a pressurized tire... but hey, most things are evolution, not revolution, anyway, right?

itronitron 6y ago

I could see these being much better for mountain bikes than for road bikes as the woven surface might actually improve traction on mountain bike trails.