Smart driving of a bilayered composite tape-spring structure

Abstract

Composite tape-springs (CTS) structure has been applied to spatial developable structures due to its bistability. There is growing interest in smart driving of the CTS-based structures because of the limitations on the working environment. Here, we propose a detailed analysis of the smart driving of the CTS structure. This is achieved by using smart materials to develop a bilayered CTS intelligent structure: the smart material forms the active layer to generate stress/strain to drive the structure; the CTS layer acts as a passive layer where its intrinsic bistability, designability further enriches the diversity of intelligent morphing structures. A theoretical analytical model is developed to anticipate the bistability; the stability criteria are then determined to guide the intelligent morphing design. These will facilitate the future smart driving design of aerospace deployable structures.

Biomimetic Venus Flytrap Structures Using Smart Composites: A Review

“…Especially, shape-memory materials have attracted great interest due to their unique shape-memory effects, these mainly include shape-memory alloys (SMAs) [22], as well as shape-memory polymers (SMPs) [23]. SMAs are usually low in recovery rate, whilst SMPs are high in recovery rate, low in density, and possess large shape morphing ability that can be beneficial for intelligent morphing designs [24]. Commonly used thermoplastic SMPs include polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polyester (PE), polyurethane (PU), etc.…”