Shape-Memory Alloy Corrosion Resistance Patents: Leaders & Gaps 2026
- Flat filing curve. activity peaked at 4 families in 2020 and had returned to zero by the 2022 midpoint, a signal of a niche that has not scaled rather than one that is winding down.
- Implant and coating claims dominate. C22F non-ferrous treatment (71 records) and C22C alloy composition (45) sit well ahead of B32B laminates and C23C coatings, showing where the claim density actually concentrates.
- Filing is dispersed, not consolidated. the strongest co-assignee links trace back to a single Chinese cluster of a sanitary-ware manufacturer, a university and a hospital-affiliated cancer research institute, not to a dominant corporate filer.
What this patent set covers
This landscape covers patent families at the intersection of shape-memory alloys — nitinol and NiTi compositions in particular — and corrosion-resistance mechanisms: passive film stability, nickel release reduction and biocorrosion resistance. The search combines alloy-family text terms with corrosion-specific claim language and restricts to IPC classes covering non-ferrous metal treatment, coatings and alloy composition, so it captures process and composition claims rather than every downstream device that happens to use nitinol.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent one to two years in any trend chart will understate real filing activity.
Filing trend and technology composition
102 families published between 2015 and the mid-2026 cut-off give a small but distinct picture: a technology area that has never produced a sustained filing wave, concentrated instead in short bursts tied to specific applications.
A peak, then a lull
Filings rose from a single record in 2017 to a peak of 4 in 2020, then fell back to zero by 2022 before any recovery. That pattern points to project-driven filing — a handful of R&D efforts reaching the patent office in the same window — rather than an industry building a sustained pipeline.
Alloy treatment and composition lead, application classes trail
C22F (non-ferrous metal treatment) and C22C (alloys) account for the largest share of records, confirming that most claims sit at the materials-science level. B32B laminates and C23C coatings form a secondary tier, while A61F implants, A61L sterilising, C09J adhesives and F41H armour each hold smaller, roughly equal shares — evidence that corrosion-resistant SMA work spans medical, defence and structural bonding applications without any one dominating.
Shares are the percentage of the 102 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Shape-Memory Alloy Corrosion Resistance with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about shape-memory alloy corrosion resistance and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this set
4D printing method and application of titanium-nickel shape memory alloy
A 4D printing method for a titanium-nickel shape memory alloy, and the titanium-nickel shape memory alloy and application thereof. Pure titanium and pure nickel are mixed and smelted, and titanium-nickel alloy bars are obtained; then alloy powder is prepared by means of a rotating electrode atomization method, the powder is sieved, and titanium-nickel alloy powder having a grain size of 15-53 μm is obtained; and the obtained titanium-nickel alloy powder is placed in a discharge plasma auxiliary ball mill to be subjected to discharge treatment, the powder is subjected to surface modification, and finally the titanium-nickel shape memory alloy is formed by means of SLM forming.Filed by South China University of Technology, published 2021-12-23 as US20210394268A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6375458B1 | Medical instruments and devices and parts thereof using shape memory alloys | 175 |
| 2 | US6258182B1 | Pseudoelastic beta titanium alloy and uses therefor | 131 |
| 3 | US6425829B1 | Threaded load transferring attachment | 128 |
| 4 | US5611874A | Clad shape memory alloy composite structure and method | 67 |
| 5 | US20080290141A1 | Manufacture of Shape Memory Alloy Cellular Materials and Structures by Transient-Liquid Reactive Joining | 49 |
| 6 | US20050207896A1 | Erosion and wear resistant protective structures for turbine engine components | 49 |
| 7 | US5108523A | Shape memory alloy | 41 |
| 8 | EP1577422A1 | Erosion and wear resistant protective structures for turbine engine components | 33 |
| 9 | US7300708B2 | Erosion and wear resistant protective structures for turbine engine components | 33 |
| 10 | WO2000069359A1 | Medical instruments and devices and parts thereof using shape memory alloys | 28 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, IPC spread and citation table are read together.
A project-driven niche, not a growth curve
Filing rose to a peak of 4 families in 2020 and fell to zero by the 2022 midpoint. That is too small and too uneven a series to call a trend; it reads as a small number of research groups reaching publication in the same window rather than sustained commercial investment.
Materials-processing claims outweigh composition claims
C22F non-ferrous treatment leads at 71 records, ahead of C22C alloy composition at 45. Processing routes — heat treatment, surface modification, passivation — carry more of the claim weight here than base alloy chemistry.
No single application dominates downstream use
Implants, sterilising processes, adhesives and armour each hold an equal, modest share of records. Corrosion-resistant SMA work is being pulled into medical, defence and structural bonding use cases in roughly equal measure, none of which has produced a filing surge on its own.
Influence sits with older, broad medical-device claims
The most-cited record in this set covers medical instruments and devices using shape-memory alloys generally, filed well before the corrosion-specific literature emerged. High citation counts here reflect foundational breadth, not recent technical importance.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to shape-memory alloy corrosion resistance, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
Recent-year momentum is flat across every tracked assignee, and co-assignee activity is thin — only four pairings appear in the whole dataset, all tied to one Chinese cluster. That combination points to a field without an entrenched leader.
No dominant corporate filer
The ranking spans corporate, university and hospital-affiliated filers with no single entity commanding a large share. Momentum tracking shows zero recent-year filings across the named assignees, consistent with the flat overall trend.
One cluster accounts for all strong collaboration
The only repeated co-filing pattern links a sanitary-ware manufacturer, South China University of Technology and a hospital-affiliated cancer research institute — an unusual combination that suggests a specific applied project rather than an industry-wide collaboration norm.
United States and Japan lead filing offices
The United States receives the most filings, followed by Japan and WIPO/PCT routes, with Europe, Australia and Canada trailing. That order suggests applicants are prioritising the largest medical-device and industrial markets over broad multi-jurisdiction coverage.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Boeing | 0 | — |
| Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| SURFACE GENESIS | 0 | — |
| Memry Corporation | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Bomay Additive Manufacturing | 0 | — |
| Guangdong Huayi Sanitary Ware Industrial Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| South China University of Technology | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a small, technically fragmented field. The next steps depend on whether you are scoping freedom-to-operate or looking for an entry point.
Check the flat trend against your own filing horizon
A peak of 4 families in one year and zero by the next midpoint means there is no momentum to ride — any new filing will be judged on its own technical merit, not against a crowded wave.
Explore the filing trend in EurekaMap the under-claimed branches before drafting claims
Passive film stability and nickel-release surface treatments show comparatively thin coverage relative to the core alloy-treatment classes. Confirm that white space still holds before committing claim language.
Run a white space search in EurekaTrace the citation chain from the top-cited records
The highest-cited patents in this set are broad, older medical-device filings. Understanding what they actually claim — versus what later corrosion-specific filings narrowed — clarifies where real freedom-to-operate risk sits.
Trace citations in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
This dataset identifies 102 patent families published between 2015 and the mid-2026 cut-off, using a search that combines shape-memory alloy and nitinol terminology with corrosion-specific claim language such as passive film stability and nickel release reduction. That count reflects a defined IPC and keyword scope, not every patent that mentions nitinol; broadening or narrowing the corrosion terms would change the number. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the true count for the most recent one to two years will be higher once those applications publish.
The trend is flat to declining rather than growing. Filings peaked at 4 families in 2020 and had fallen back to zero by the 2022 midpoint, with no clear recovery visible in the data through the 2026 cut-off. That pattern is more consistent with a small number of research-driven filing bursts than with a technology attracting sustained commercial investment, though the most recent years are understated due to publication lag.
No single assignee dominates this field; the 102 ranked families are spread across corporate, university and hospital-affiliated filers, and recent-year momentum tracking shows zero new filings across the named top assignees. The only notable collaboration pattern is a cluster of four co-assignee pairings linking a sanitary-ware manufacturer, a university and a cancer research institute, which points to a specific applied project rather than an industry-wide leader. Readers should treat this as a fragmented field rather than one with an incumbent to design around.
The bulk of claims sit in non-ferrous metal treatment (C22F) and alloy composition (C22C), meaning most patents address how the alloy is processed or passivated rather than novel base chemistry. Secondary clusters cover layered products, coatings, medical implants, sterilising processes, adhesives and armour applications, each holding a modest and roughly equal share. That spread shows corrosion-resistant SMA work is being pulled into several downstream industries without any one dominating the claim space.
Relative to the dense core classes of alloy treatment and composition, sub-areas such as nickel-release reduction surface treatments, passive film stability under cyclic loading and additive-manufactured SMA passivation routes show thinner coverage in this dataset. That thinner coverage does not guarantee an open field — it means fewer records were captured by this search, so a targeted freedom-to-operate check against the specific claim language in those branches is the necessary next step before drafting.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.