Fabrication and Three-Way Bend of Shape Memory Composite for Novel Actuator

The shape memory composite (SMC) belt composed of two kinds of shape memory alloys (SMAs), showing the shape memory effect and superelasticityu, and shape memory polymer (SMP) was fabricated and the three-way movement and recovery force in bending were investigated. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. (1) The SMC belt without bubbles and gaps among the materials could be fabricated under the appropriate conditons: the number of SMA tapes and SMP tape, fastening force, holding tempersture and holding time in the heat-treatment. In order to protect the projection of the edge by the recovery force of the SMA tapes, both edges of the SMA tapes were connected by a thin steel clamp. (2) The three-way bending movement was achived during heating and cooling based on the characteristics of the SMA tapes and the SMP sheet. (3) The recovery force increased during heating and decreased during cooling. The recovery force was evaluated by the proposed simple model.