A smart polymer composite actuator with thin SMA strips

The characteristics of SMA to provide a high force and a large strain make them a good candidate for an actuator for controlling the shape of smart structures. Using a mathematical model that captures the thermo-mechanical behaviors and 2-way shape memory effect (TWSME) of SMA, some smart shell structures were analyzed numerically and experimentally. The deflections of morphing shells to that thin SMA strips are attached were investigated depending on various phase transformation temperatures. SMA strips start to transform from the martensitic into the austenitic state upon actuation through resistive heating, simultaneously recover the prestrain, and thus cause the shell structures to deform three dimensionally. The behaviors of composite shells with SMA strips were analyzed using FEM and 3-D constitutive equations of SMA. Several morphing composite shell structures were fabricated and their experimental shape changes depending on temperatures were compared to the numerical results. That two results show good correlations indicates FEA and 3-D constitutive equations are accurate enough to utilize them for the design of smart shell structures for various applications.