Yahoo News
Metals that can regain their original shape even after they have been bent may soon be available, thanks to researchers at the University of Illinois who have found that adding heat to bent metal films having the right microstructure returns them to their original shapes.
[…]
We found that the type of metal doesn’t matter. What matters is the size of the grains in the metal’s crystalline microstructure, and a distribution in the size”
The findings of the study were published in the March 30 issue of the journal Science
Sounds a bit like a heat treating application …