Nowadays, eyeglasses, sunglasses and safety glasses can be made of various frame materials. Plastics and variations include zyl, cellulose acetate propionate, nylon and blended nylon. These materials have their own properties. For instance, cellulose acetate is hypo-allergenic and lightweight. And nylon is lightweight, strong, and flexible. When it comes to metal category, many more options are available, such as Monel, titanium, beryllium, stainless steel and aluminum. Similar to plastic materials, metal ones have specific advantages. Possible considerations include lightness, strength, and flexibility and corrosion resistance. Some manufacturers even use wood, bone, buffalo horn or gold to make eyewear frames. Yet among all these feasible eyeglass frame materials, there is a special member called Flexon. Flexon frames have particular advantages over frames made of other metals.
In fact, Flexon is not the name of a real material, but the trademark for a shape memory alloy of titanium. This trademark was developed by the Beta Group and was sold to Marchon Eyewear in 1995. As a major eyewear manufacturer in the world, Marchon Eyewear has maintained this trademark for more than one decade. However, Flexon as the trademark is not the key point. The key point is the incomparable features or properties owned this material. Only these features can explain the popularity of Flexon frames among modern eyewear users. In brief, Flexon eyeglass frames are lightweight and extremely flexible. People who have experiences of wearing Flexon eyewear may know that these frames can be bent to a significant degree and are still able to return to original shapes after being released.
How can these frames achieve this particular flexibility? It comes to the natural properties of the material. The material behind Flexon is a shape memory alloy, or memory metal. In some cases, it is also called muscle wire, smart alloy or smart metal. This powerful material can remember its original, cold-forged shape. Claiming this capability, Flexon frames can restore their original shapes even after bending, twisting and crushing. Advantages of memory metal such as lightness and flexibility have been widely recognized so that it also has applications in industries like medical and aerospace.