Self-Blooming Nitinol Flower

My Project

The Self-Blooming Nitinol Flower is a kinetic sculpture I built to explore how smart materials can create mechanical motion without traditional motors or actuators. The flower uses Nitinol, a shape-memory alloy that can be deformed at lower temperatures and return toward a programmed shape when heated.

I designed the petals and mechanical structure so that heating the Nitinol wire generates enough movement to transform the flower from a closed state into a blooming form. Building the project required experimenting with the geometry of the petals, placement and tension of the Nitinol wire, heating behavior, and the balance between flexibility and structural support.

Materials