Vladimir Brailovski

Design of Shape Memory Alloy Actuators for Morphing Laminar Wing With Flexible Extrados

An active structure of a morphing wing designed for subsonic cruise flight conditions is composed of three principal subsystems: (1) fexible extrados, (2) rigid intrados, and (3) an actuator group located inside the wing box. The four-ply laminated composite flexible extrados is powered by two individually controlled shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators. Fulfilling the requirements imposed by the morphing wing application to the force-displacement characteristics of the actuators, a novel design methodology to determine the geometry of the SMA active elements and their adequate assembly conditions is presented. This methodology uses the results of the constrained recovery testing of the selected SMA. Using a prototype of the morphing laminar wing powered by SMA actuators, the design approach proposed in this study is experimentally validated.

Specific features of the formation of the microstructure of titanium nickelide upon thermomechanical treatment including cold plastic deformation to degrees from moderate to severe

X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, microhardness measurements, and differential scanning calorimetry have been used to investigate the formation of the dislocation substructure and nanocrystalline and amorphous structures in Ti-Ni shape-memory alloys depending on the degree of cold deformation by rolling and post-deformation annealing. The moderate deformation (e = 0.25) leads to the formation of a developed dislocation substructure; with an increase in the deformation to e = 2, the dislocation substructure is gradually substituted by a mixed nanocrystalline and amorphous structures. The residual martensite completely disappears as the deformation increases in the interval of e = 2−3 or upon annealing in the interval of 200–300°C. Annealing at 400°C after a moderate deformation leads to the formation of a polygonized (“nanosubgrain”) dislocation substructure in austenite. As the initial deformation increases to e = 2, this structure is gradually substituted by a nanocrystalline structure of austenite. Annealing after deformation to intermediate degrees (e = 0.75−1.0) results in the formation of a mixture of nanocrystalline and submicrocrystalline polygonized structures.

Crystal lattice of martensite and the reserve of recoverable strain of thermally and thermomechanically treated Ti-Ni shape-memory alloys

X-ray diffraction has been used to study shape-memory alloys of composition Ti-(49.73–51.05 at %) Ni subjected to quenching and thermomechanical treatment (TMT) by the scheme “cold deformation (e = 0.3–1.9) + postdeformation annealing (200–500°C) to provide different defectness of the parent B2 austenite. For the quenched alloys, the concentration dependences of the lattice parameters of the B19′ martensite, maximum lattice strain upon martensitic transformation, the crystallographic orientation of the lattice in single crystals, and the reserve of recoverable strain in polycrystals have been determined. The lattice parameters of martensite formed from polygonized, i.e., nanosubgranular, or from nanocrystalline austenite differ from the corresponding parameters of quenched martensite formed from recrystallized austenite, and their difference increases with increasing defectness of the parent-austenite lattice. An increase in the defectness of the austenite lattice is accompanied by a decrease in the reserve of recoverable strain. The deformation of the existing martensite or the formation of stress-assisted martensite under the anisotropic action of external stresses changes the interplanar spacing and the thermal expansion coefficient in different crystallographic directions but does not affect the averaged lattice parameters near the Ms-Mf interval and the reserve of recoverable strain.

Morphing laminar wing with flexible extrados powered by shape memory alloy actuators

An active structure of a morphing wing designed for subsonic cruise flight conditions combines three principal subsystems: (1) flexible extrados, (2) rigid intrados and (3) an actuator group located inside the wing box. A structural model of the flexible extrados built with ANSYS finite element software is coupled with X’Foil fluid dynamics software to evaluate mechanical and aerodynamic performances of the morphing wing in different flight conditions. Using the multicriteria optimization technique, an active structure consisting of the 4-ply laminated composite flexible extrados powered by two individually controlled actuators is selected. Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators are designed as power elements for the morphing wing. To meet the functional requirements of the application, the geometry of the SMA elements is calculated using the results of the constrained recovery testing of the selected material.Copyright

Review of shape memory alloys medical applications in Russia

In the last twenty-five years a large variety of research has been carried out in Russia using Shape Memory Alloys (SMA), particularly nearly equiatomic NiTi alloys, for medical applications. In this field of activity, Russian research centers have been quite successful in treating different kinds of diseases, from bone fractures to dental implants. This review is intended to give a panorama of SMA medical applications in Russia in order to illustrate the remarkable possibilities offered by SMA materials in the medical field.

Characterization and design of antagonistic shape memory alloy actuators

Antagonistic shape memory actuators use opposing shape memory alloy (SMA) elements to create devices capable of producing differential motion paths and two-way mechanical work in a very efficient manner. There is no requirement for additional bias elements to ?re-arm? the actuators and allow repetitive actuation. The work generation potential of antagonistic shape memory actuators is determined by specific SMA element characteristics and their assembly conditions. In this study, the selected SMA wires are assembled in antagonistic configuration and characterized using a dedicated test bench to evaluate their stress?strain characteristics as a function of the number of cycles. Using these functional characteristics, a so-called ?working envelope? is built to assist in the design of such an actuator. Finally, the test bench is used to simulate a real application of an antagonistic actuator (case study).

Mechanical Properties of Thermomechanically-Processed Metastable Beta Ti-Nb-Zr Alloys for Biomedical Applications

Metastable beta-titanium alloys combine exceptionally low Youngs modulus and high biocompatibility, thus attracting special interest in the prospect of their application as biomedical implant material. In this work, Ti-21.8Nb-6Zr (at.%) ingots were manufactured by vacuum argon melting followed by hot isothermal pressing. The obtained ingots were thermomechanically processed using the following TMP sequence: a) cold rolling (CR) from e=0.37 to 2 of the logarithmic thickness reduction; and b) post-deformation annealing (PDA) of between 450 and 700°C (10’…5 h for 600°C and 1 h for other temperatures). The influence of the TMP on the alloy’s mechanical properties under static and cyclic loading was studied.

Structure formation during thermomechanical processing of Ti-Nb-(Zr, Ta) alloys and the manifestation of the shape-memory effect

The formation of structure during thermomechanical processing by the regime of cold plastic deformation by rolling and postdeformation annealing (PDA) and its influence on the mechanical properties of Ti-Nb-(Zr, Ta) shape-memory alloys (SMAs) have been investigated. A moderate strain (e ≈ 0.3) leads to the formation of a developed dislocation substructure in the β phase. With going to severe plastic deformation (e ≈ 2), a nanocrystalline structure can locally be formed without the amorphization of the structure. There are also present α″-, α-, ω phases in the deformed alloys. When the PDA (1 h) is performed below 450°C, the structure of the β phase changes only slightly. Above 450°C, a polygonized substructure is formed in the β phase, which is nanosubgrained at an annealing temperature of 500°C and transforms completely into a submicron one at 600°C. In the case of severe plastic deformation to e ≈ 2, in this range of annealing temperatures, high-angle misorientations of blocks are also observed. The recrystallization of the β phase in the Ti-Nb-(Zr, Ta) SMAs develops at temperatures above 600°C. The presence of the ω phase is detected at temperatures of up to 550°C. The lattice parameters of the strain-induced α″ martensite formed in the Ti-Nb-Ta alloy are independent of the PDA temperature in the range from 600 to 900°C, where the polygonized substructure transforms into the recrystallized structure of the β phase. The range of PDA temperatures that are most favorable for the manifestation of the effect of superelasticity in the Ti-Nb-(Zr, Ta) alloys is in the vicinity of 600°C.

Temporal characteristics of shape memory linear actuators and their application to circuit breakers

Abstract Electrically activated shape memory devices can be designed to exert a mechanical action when heated to their transformation temperature. In many applications, the evaluation of the actuation and reset times is critical. These parameters depend on the size and geometry of the device, heat exchange conditions with the surrounding medium, type of alloy, and intensity of the electrical current. In order to assess the influence of these factors, analytical solutions can be obtained from a simple heat balance equation. However, for experimental validation, it is necessary to take into account the phase transformation in the alloy. Analytical solutions are also compared with a finite element model that simulates the heat loss at the extremities of the actuator due to the electrical connection. Finally, the approach presented in this study is applied to circuit breakers.

Functional fatigue behavior of superelastic beta Ti-22Nb-6Zr(at%) alloy for load-bearing biomedical applications

Ti-22Nb-6Zr (at.%) alloy with different processing-induced microstructures (highly-dislocated partially recovered substructure, polygonized nanosubgrained (NSS) dislocation substructure, and recrystallized structure) was subjected to strain-controlled tension-tension fatigue testing in the 0.2...1.5% strain range (run-out at 10^6 cycles). The NSS alloy obtained after cold-rolling with 0.3 true strain and post-deformation annealing at 600 °C showed the lowest Youngs modulus and globally superior fatigue performance due to the involvement of reversible stress-induced martensitic transformation in the deformation process. This NSS structure appears to be suitable for biomedical applications with an extended variation range of loading conditions (orthopedic implants).