Smart Metl airless alloy tire

Smart Tire company is developing the first consumer application of NASA’s shape memory alloy tire technology, a futuristic bicycle tire called Metl.

Description
Creator

Description

The Smart Tire company, in partnership with NASA, is developing the first-ever consumer application of NASA’s airless shape memory alloy (SMA) tire technology, a cutting-edge, eco-friendly bicycle tire called Metl. Originally invented by NASA for use on lunar and Mars rover missions, the SMA tire is made from advanced, lightweight materials known as NiTinol+, creating a tire that is elastic like rubber yet strong like titanium, exhibiting perfect shape memory without ever going flat. Made in gold, silver and metallic blue, the Smart Tire Company’s Metl bike tire has a stunning, space-age metallic look and feel.

Smart has also partnered with leading micromobility provider, Spin, part of the Ford Motor Company, to develop SMA tires for e-scooters, and is working with Felt Bicycles on research and development.

Creator

The SMART Tire Company LLC was founded in 2020 by Cole and blockchain engineer Brian Yennie. Together with former NASA engineering intern and cycling enthusiast Calvin Young, the SMART team has consulted with NASA Glenn Research Center inventors Dr. Santo Padula and Colin Creager to bring the power of shape memory alloy tire technology to the general public. Thanks to their ability to undergo phase transitions at the molecular level under strain, SMAs are unlike any other material, exhibiting thirty times the recoverable strain of ordinary steel. What’s more, SMART’s METL™ tires are eco-friendly, utilizing long-lasting materials that reduce rubber waste. SMART’s advanced research will establish METL™ tires as the premier high-tech component for the modern cyclist across road, gravel, mountain and e-bike applications.

“Shape memory alloys look extremely promising in revolutionizing the entire terrestrial tire industry,” says Santo Padula, Ph.D., Materials Science Engineer at NASA, “and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

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