Mechanical and Vibration Characteristics of Laminated Composite Plates Embedding Shape Memory Alloy Superelastic Wires

Currently, there is a great interest in the study of shape memory alloy (SMA) composites, since SMA wires with a small diameter have become commercially available. Many potential uses have been found for SMA composites in shape control, vibration control, and for the realization of structures with improved damage tolerance. In this work, two types of SMA-hybridized composites are presented for investigating the mechanical and vibration characteristics. The first one contains unidirectional superelastic SMA wires, while the other has been realized with embedded knitted SMA layers. The samples from these laminates have been tested according to “Charpy method” (ASTM D256) and static flexural test method (ASTM D790) to evaluate the influence of the integration of thin superelastic SMA wires on the impact behavior and the mechanical properties of the hybrid composites. Moreover, since the SMA wires are expected to give damping capacity, by measuring the vibration mode of a clamped cantilever using laser vibrometry, the influence of both SMA arrangements on the vibration characteristics has been investigated. Finally, further tests have been carried out on composite panels realized by embedding unidirectional steel wires to distinguish the influence of the martensitic transformation from the pure introduction of a metallic wire into the polymeric matrix.     

Transformational behaviour of constrained shape memory alloys

The transformational behaviour of shape memory alloy (SMA) wires embedded into a fibre reinforced epoxy composite was investigated and is discussed in this article. The effects on the transformational temperatures, and heats of the embedded SMA wires and the generation of recovery stresses within the composites on heating are shown to be related to the reversible martensitic transformation of the SMA wires. This article details the effects of the constraining matrix on the transformations of self-accommodating and preferentially oriented martensite. It was found that there is little change in the transformation temperatures of the constrained SMA wires with increasing pre-strain, but that the measurable transformation heats decrease significantly with increasing pre-strain. It is concluded that the transformation of self-accommodating martensite is nearly not affected by the constrained matrix, whereas the transformation of the preferentially oriented martensite is suppressed.     

Application of shape memory alloy wire actuator for precision position control of a composite beam

In this paper are presented the design and experimental results of using a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire as an actuator for position control of a composite beam. The composite beam is honeycomb structured, having wires of SMA embedded in one of its face sheets for the purposes of active actuation. Nickel-titanium SMA wires were chosen as actuating elements due to their high recovery stress (>700 MPa) and tolerance to high strain (up to 8%). A simple proportional and derivative controller plus a feed-forward current is designed and implemented for controlling the tip position of the composite beam. Experiments have demonstrated the effectiveness of the SMA wire as an actuator for active position control of a composite beam.     

Actuator Response of Improved Two-Way Memory TiNi Wires Evaluated by Weight Fraction Diagrams

This paper experimentally studies the improvement in the actuator response of TiNi shape memory wires brought about by thermal treatments. Heat-treated TiNi wires were thermally cycled at zero stress before being trained by constant stress to develop the two-way shape memory effect. Subsequently, the work output of these two-way memory TiNi shape memory alloys are measured during repeated thermomechanical cycling under various levels of constant stress. Changes in the phase transformation behavior in two-way memory and thermomechanically cycled TiNi shape memory alloy wires are quantified by x-ray diffraction as a function of temperature. The weight fraction diagrams of TiNi wires thermally cycled at zero stress before they were trained suggests that during constant stress training they develop a lower quantity of R-phase than samples that have not been thermally cycled at zero stress before being trained. This gives thermally cycled TiNi samples higher levels of transformation strain and work output during thermomechanical cycling than samples that have not been thermally cycled before training. These results suggest that for the best material performance—that is, significant transformation strain and, consequently, substantial work output—the TiNi wire should be thermally cycled at zero stress before training.     

Microstructures and properties of Al–45%Si alloy prepared by liquid–solid separation process and spray deposition

The microstructures and properties of Al–45%Si alloy prepared by liquid–solid separation (LSS) process and spray deposition (SD) were studied. The results show that the size, shape and distribution of the primary Si phase have different influence on the properties of alloys. Comparing with the Si particles with irregular shape, fine size and continuous distribution in SD alloy, the primary Si phase in LSS alloy is sphere-like, coarse and surrounded by the continuous Al matrix. The microstructure features of LSS alloy are beneficial to the higher thermal conductivity and lower thermal expansion coefficient at room temperature. The fine Si particle in SD alloy is advantageous to improving the mechanical properties. The increasing rates of thermal expansion coefficient with temperature are influenced by the distribution of the Si particles, where a lower rate is obtained in SD alloy with continuous Si particles. The agreement of thermal expansion coefficient with the model in LSS alloy differs from that in the SD alloy because of the different microstructure characteristics.     

Numerical Investigation of the Macroscopic Mechanical Behavior of NiTi-Hybrid Composites Subjected to Static Load–Unload–Reload Path

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are a type of shape memory materials that recover large deformation and return to their primary shape by rising temperature. In the current research, the effect of embedding SMA wires on the macroscopic mechanical behavior of glass–epoxy composites is investigated through finite element simulations. A perfect interface between SMA wires and the host composite is assumed. Effects of various parameters such as SMA wires volume fraction, SMA wires pre-strain and temperature are investigated during loading–unloading and reloading steps by employing ANSYS software. In order to quantify the extent of induced compressive stress in the host composite and residual tensile stress in the SMA wires, a theoretical approach is presented. Finally, it was shown that smart structures fabricated using composite layers and pre-strained SMA wires exhibited overall stiffness reduction at both ambient and elevated temperatures which were increased by adding SMA volume fraction. Also, the induced compressive stress on the host composite was increased remarkably using 4% pre-strained SMA wires at elevated temperature. Results obtained by FE simulations were in good correlation with the rule of mixture predictions and available experimental data in the literature.     

Effect of Current Pulses on Fatigue of Thin NiTi Wires for Shape Memory Actuators

Shape memory alloys (SMA) are used in many technological applications, thanks to their unique properties: superelasticity and shape memory (SM) effect. Many efforts have been made to improve performance of SMA wires to utilize them as thermal actuators also for many thousands of cycles. Near-equiatomic nickel-titanium compound is the most used materials for SM actuators because of its high recoverable values of strain and good cycling stability, if compared to the other known SMA. In this study, the functional properties of NiTi thin wires (80 μm) thermally cycled under a constant load (200 MPa) were investigated. In particular, the effect of two heating conditions, carried out by a step and a ramp current pulses, on functional fatigue of SMA has been studied. By means of an experimental apparatus, thermomechanical cycling, thermal loop under constant load and actuation time (AT) tests were carried out to investigate the alteration and the trend of recovered strain, irreversible strain, characteristic temperatures, and ATs of the thin SM wires.     

Stress generation by shape memory alloy wires embedded in polymer composites

Single shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are capable of generating high compressive stresses under constrained conditions when they are thermally activated. In this work, the ability of single SMA wires to act as internal stress generators in fibrous polymer composite systems has been investigated. The stress fields recorded both at the specimen level and internally in the reinforcing fibers by means of Raman microscopy measurements have confirmed that SMA wires can serve as effective stress-actuators. The efficiency of stress generation depends on the wire alloy composition and level of prestrain prior to incorporation into the composite medium. The internal stress distribution in the composite fibers decayed from a position just above the wire surface to the edges of the specimen reaching zero at a distance of approximately 3000 μm. The maximum value of stress recorded in the fibers at a distance of approximately one wire radius was 227 MPa. The significance of these results in the design and operation of adaptive composites systems similar to those examined here is discussed.     

Embedding of Superelastic SMA Wires into Composite Structures: Evaluation of Impact Properties

Shape memory alloy (SMA) represents the most versatile way to realize smart materials with sensing, controlling, and actuating functions. Due to their unique mechanical and thermodynamic properties and to the possibility to obtain SMA wires with very small diameters, they are used as smart components embedded into the conventional resins or composites, obtaining active abilities, tunable properties, self-healing properties, and damping capacity. Moreover, superelastic SMAs are used to increase the impact resistance properties of composite materials. In this study, the influence of the integration of thin superelastic wires to suppress propagating damage of composite structures has been investigated. Superelastic SMAs have very high strain to failure and recoverable elastic strain, due to a stress-induced martensitic phase transition creating a plateau region in the stress-strain curve. NiTi superelastic wires (A _f = ?15 °C fully annealed) of 0.10 mm in diameter have been produced and characterized by SAES Getters. The straight annealed wire shows the typical flag stress-strain behavior. The measured loading plateau is about 450 MPa at ambient temperature with a recoverable elastic strain of more than 6%. For these reasons superelastic SMA fibers can absorb much more strain energy than other fibers before their failure, partly with a constant stress level. In this paper, the improvement of composite laminates impact properties by embedding SMA wires is evaluated and indications for design and manufacturing of SMA composites with high-impact properties are also given.     

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Smart Laminates with Embedded SMA Actuators—Part I: Embedding Techniques and Interface Analysis

Up to now one of the main limits for a large use of shape memory alloys (SMA)-based smart composite structures in the aerospace industry is the lack of useful numerical tools for design. Moreover, technological aspects still need a more detailed investigation. This paper shows how to overcome issues regarding embedding of NiTiNOL wires in carbon fibre/epoxy laminates. A crucial aspect of those structures is related to the load transfer capabilities between the SMA actuators and the host material during their activation. Embedding techniques developed for taking into account problems like thermal and electrical compatibility between actuators and host material and passive/active invasivity are reported in this paper. Simple smart laminates with several actuators were manufactured, tested, and deeply analyzed. In order to characterize the interface in the real operative conditions, pull-out tests were conducted on NiTiNOL wires embedded in composite fiber laminates. The results were compared to standard experiments on wires embedded in pure epoxy resin blocks.     

退火态Ti-49.8Ni形状记忆合金的组织及性能研究

用光学显微技术及拉伸试验研究了退火温度T_a和形变温度T_d对Ti-49.8Ni(原子分数,%)形状记忆合金(SMA)丝材及弹簧的显微组织与形状记忆行为的影响.结果表明:冷加工态Ti-49.8Ni合金组织呈纤维状;退火后,随T_a升高,其显微组织逐渐从纤维状向等轴状过渡,合金丝和弹簧的马氏体(M)再取向力先减小后增大;退火态合金在室温下呈形状记忆效应,随T_d升高,合金的M再取向力升高,形状记忆效应份额逐渐减少,超弹性效应份额逐渐增加.     

Effect of heat treatment on the transformation behavior and temperature memory effect in TiNiCu wires

The effect of heat treatment on the phase transformation behavior of TiNiCu shape memory alloy wires and the temperature memory effect in this alloy were investigated by the resistance method. These results showed that with increasing annealing temperature and annealing time, the phase transformation temperatures of TiNiCu wires were shifted to higher temperatures in the heating and cooling process. It was also found that incomplete thermal cycles, upon heating the TiNiCu wires, which were arrested at a temperature between the start and finish tem-peratures of the reverse martensite transformation, could induce a kinetic stop in the next complete thermal cycle. The kinetic stop tempera-ture was closely related to the previous arrested temperature. This phenomenon was defined as the temperature memory effect. The result of this study was consistent with the previous report on the phenomenon obtained using the differential scanning calorimetry method, indicating that temperature memory effect was a common phenomenon in shape memory alloys.     

An Investigation into the Simple Tensile Test of SMA Wires Considering Stress Concentration of Grippers

To simulate the behaviors of shape memory alloy (SMA) wires, several 1-D constitutive models have been proposed most of which assume a homogeneous behavior for the material. However, stress concentration caused by the grippers would lead to inhomogeneous behavior of an SMA during the tensile test. In this paper, effect of stress concentration caused by the grippers is studied on the stress-strain response of an SMA wire during tension. At first, a relation for minimum required gripping force is provided. Then the extent of influence of stress concentration is estimated, and a minimum length is proposed for the test sample of ordinary materials. Using this result and by finite element simulating the effect of stress concentration caused by grippers, a minimum length for an SMA tensile test sample is proposed. By considering this minimum length, it is possible to simulate the material behaviors neglecting the stress concentration caused by grippers and to determine material parameters with a reasonable precision using a constitutive model in which inhomogeneous behaviors are not taken into account. A simple tensile test is performed on an SMA wire whose length is more than the recommended number, and a good agreement is seen between predicted stress-strain curve based on uniform stress distribution throughout the wire and the obtained experimental results.     

Effect of smart stiffening procedure on low-velocity impact response of smart structures

The paper presents the response of smart hybrid composite plate subjected to low-velocity impact. The low-velocity impact response of the composite plate embedded with shape memory alloy (SMA) wires is investigated. The SMA wires are embedded within the layers of the composite laminate. The first-order shear deformation theory as well as the Fourier series method is utilized to solve the dynamic governing equations of the hybrid composite plate analytically. The interaction between the impactor and the plate is modeled with the help of two degrees-of-freedom system, consisting of springs-masses. The Choi's linearized Hertzian contact model is used in the impact analysis of the laminated hybrid composite plate. The stiffness of the composite structures classified into two new groups. Interactive and non-interactive effects of these stiffnesses are studied too. In addition, a procedure named smart stiffening procedure (SSP) was used to improve the impact resistance of the composite structures. It was seen that by using of the SSP, the mechanical characteristics of the structure could be improved the most.     

医用封堵器中形状记忆合金与不锈钢的焊接

研究医用封堵器制造过程中的焊接工艺,首先利用钨极氩弧焊(TIG)将一束NiTi形状记忆合金丝焊接在一起,然后采用激光点焊将NiTi形状记忆合金丝接头与不锈钢管焊接起来.采用光学显微镜观察接头的显微结构,并利用电子探针(EPMA)研究接头中合金元素的分布.结果表明,在形状记忆合金TIG焊接头中弥散分布有TiC相,但TiC的含量在形状记忆合金与不锈钢的激光点焊焊缝处较少.在熔合线附近存在元素间的相互扩散,并且在熔合线附近产生金属间化合物Ni3Ti+(Fe,Ni)Ti.     

A new method for fabricating SMA/CFRP smart hybrid composites

In order to suppress the microscopic mechanical damages in composite system, and thus to increase the reliability of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP), a smart composite SMA/CFRP is attracting much attention. In this application, the shape memory alloy (SMA) is expected to exert compressive stress to CFRP by reverse transformation upon heating after fabrication. However, one big problem in the fabrication process is that the curing temperature of the composite (130 °C) far exceeds the reverse transformation temperatures of Ti–Ni alloys (∼70 °C). This paper presents a new method to overcome this difficulty. The method consists of using heavily cold-worked wires to increase the reverse transformation temperatures, and of using flash electrical heating of the wires after fabrication in order to avoid damaging of the matrix around wires. By choosing the reduction of cold drawing and composition of TiNi alloys properly, it will be shown that the method is actually applicable without using special fixture jigs, which are necessary otherwise, to the fabrication of such smart composite as SMA/CFRP.     

退火处理对NiTi记忆合金丝力学性能的影响

以德国Memory-Metalle有限公司生产的两种型号NiTi合金丝为研究对象,其一是具有中温激励特性的M型,其二是具有超弹性的N型,通过拉伸实验,研究了退火处理对其力学性能的影响.结果表明:不同的退火温度和退火时间对试样的形状记忆性能以及超弹性具有不同程度的影响.     

Recovery stress characteristics of TiNi alloy wires after partial martensitic transformation under different constraint conditions

The recovery stress characteristics of a TiNi shape memory alloy wire under different constraint conditions were studied. The results show that the recovery stress rate (da/dT) in the second heating cycle increases significantly with the increasing constraining-spring coefficient in the first heating cycle. As a result, a distinct discontinuity appears on the recovery stress curves of the TiNi alloy wires in the second heating process. Also, the results of differential scanning calorimeter(DSC) measurements show that after the thermomechanical process, the heating curve of the TiNi alloy wire consists of two independent endothermic peaks.     

Repeated Instant Self-healing Shape Memory Composites

We present a shape memory composite which is made of two types of shape memory materials, namely shape memory alloy (SMA) and shape memory hybrid. This composite has repeated instant self-healing function by means of not only shape recovery but also strength recovery (over 80%). The activation of the self-healing function is triggered by joule heating the embedded SMA.     

Simulated and Experimental Damping Properties of a SMA/Fiber Glass Laminated Composite

In this article, an advanced laminated composite is developed, combining the high damping properties of shape memory alloy (SMA) with mechanical properties and light weight of a glass-fiber reinforced polymer. The composite is formed by stacking a glass-fiber reinforced epoxy core between two thin patterned strips of SMA alloy, and two further layers of fiber-glass reinforced epoxy. The bars of the laminated composite were assembled and cured in autoclave. The patterning was designed to enhance the interface adhesion between matrix and SMA inserts and optimally exploit the damping capacity of the SMA thin ribbons. The patterned ribbons of the SMA alloy were cut by means of a pulsed fiber laser source. Damping properties at different amplitudes on full scale samples were investigated at room temperature with a universal testing machine through dynamic tension tests, while temperature dependence was investigated by dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) on smaller samples. Experimental results were used in conjunction with FEM analysis to optimize the geometry of the inserts. Experimental decay tests on the laminated composite have been carried out to identify the adimensional damping value related to their first flexural mode.