pic: Is this currently legal or considered exotic?

[D.Fahringer]

Yes, those are intentional mounting holes that are showing because I used an existing mounting fixture and wanted the full 1/4" of thread in the hole to safely hold the part for the lathe work. "Good enough to BE goverment work" I was hoping.

This "part" is typical of the types of contoured
nozzles and wind tunnel aerodynamic models that we make for researchers at NASA Langley but is not a
part we will now put to use for testing of its airflow properties, but it is likely to be tested for it's metalurgical properties as this is the ongoing effort with this developmental technology.

The material is inexpensive 2219 aluminum wire to be exact in this case but could be nearly any grade of aluminum or any type of metal or metal alloy wire.

We are about to try shape memory wire (Nitanol)
which when bent will return to it's original position when heated! In the machine we have two wire feed systems that we hope to prove can vary the alloy at will though the part. So the piece could start out as titanium let's say, and then at a thin hinge area it could blend to Nitanol then go to titanium again! If that works you would have a motorless hinge! Doors or flaps could be
opened by an electric heat source.

Any other ideas for this technology?