Heating for memory metal shape-setting

Abstract

A shape-setting device comprising an electrical conductor and a shaping form configured to have a target memory-metal device physically coupled thereto to hold at least a portion of the target memory-metal device in a shape conforming to at least a portion of the shaping form. A method of shape-setting a memory-metal device includes physically-coupling a memory-metal device to a shaped workpiece, injecting electrical current through a conductor associated with the shaped workpiece to heat the shaped workpiece, and conducting thermal energy from the shaped workpiece to the memory-metal device to shape-set at least a portion of the memory-metal device to a shape conforming to at least a portion of the shaped workpiece.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.