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Hosoda-Tahara Lab
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A lab that controls atomic arrangements to create alloys that remember their shape.
AboutAbout the lab
Creating new materials that are kind to people and the environment.
The Hosoda-Tahara Lab studies new materials that are kind to people and the environment and useful to society by controlling atomic arrangements.
Its main focus is shape memory and superelastic materials, which return to their original shape after large deformation simply by being heated or having the force removed.
The lab has been a pioneer worldwide in researching titanium-based medical alloys that are safe for the body and gold-based alloys that are easily visible in X-ray images.
Its work ranges from basic studies of the properties of new materials to applications in medicine and energy.
Key terms
- Shape memory alloy
- A metal that returns to its original shape when heated, even after being greatly deformed. It is used in medical devices and other products.
- Superelasticity
- The property of returning to the original shape once the force is removed, even after being bent far more than an ordinary metal.
- Martensitic transformation
- A change in which the arrangement of atoms in a metal switches all at once. It is the origin of the shape memory effect.
NewsLab news
Research results published in Scripta Materialia
Research results published in Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Master's student received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the master's interim presentation session in the metals field of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Research results published in Materials Transactions
Research results published in Acta Materialia
ResearchResearch themes
The lab belongs to the Institute of Integrated Research, whose mission is to create new research fields and solve challenges facing human society. Students receive their education through the School of Materials and Chemical Technology and also take part in world-leading research and its application in society. Centered on shape memory and superelastic materials, the lab covers everything from elucidating basic properties to applications in medicine and energy.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping New Shape Memory Alloys
The lab researches and develops safer, higher-performance shape memory alloys. Together with universities and companies in Japan and abroad, it studies titanium-based medical alloys made only of elements that are safe for the body, as well as gold-based alloys with enhanced radiopacity.
*Illustrative imageMaterials Driven by Magnetic Fields
The lab studies composite materials that combine magnetic shape memory alloys, which move in response to a magnetic field, with resins that are gentle on the human body. Their displacement can be controlled remotely by a magnetic field, and they are expected to serve as actuators that move faster than ordinary shape memory alloys.
*Illustrative imageUnderstanding Behavior Through Single Crystals
To understand the behavior of shape memory alloys at a fundamental level, the lab conducts basic research using single crystals. It produces single crystals by the floating zone method and metal 3D printing, and investigates martensitic transformation and deformation behavior.
*Illustrative imageAnalyzing Microstructure Images with AI
Microstructure analysis is essential for understanding materials, but analyzing images by hand is time-consuming and has issues with reproducibility. The lab uses deep learning to automate the classification of phases and the extraction of grain boundaries, aiming to build methods for more efficient materials development.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Hosoda-Tahara Lab are faculty, researchers, secretaries, technical support staff, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorHideki HosodaPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorMasaki TaharaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorNaoki NohiraPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorAya HarashimaPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Nitinol bueroklammer verbogen” Petermaerki / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Developing New Shape Memory Alloys: “Un stent couvert” Haudebourg / Public domain (cropped)
- Materials Driven by Magnetic Fields: “Neodymium magnet lifting spheres” user:Roo72 / Public domain (cropped)
- Understanding Behavior Through Single Crystals: “Silicon seed crystal puller rod” Warut Roonguthai / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Analyzing Microstructure Images with AI: “Copper alloy microstructure” Rsaage / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (竹山・
小林研究室): “Gas Turbine 4” Pro-Per Energy Services / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (小林郁夫研究室): “Titanium metal” US gov / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (安井研究室): “Ceramic fracture” Mtbusca / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (松下
（伸） ・久保田研究室): “Photoresist spin-coaters at LAAS 0448” Guillaume Paumier (user:guillom) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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