Benefits of an Energy-Based Material Model During Industrial Engineering of SMA

Shape memory alloys possess several features that make them interesting for industrial applications. However, due to their complex and thermo-mechanically coupled behavior, direct use of shape memory alloys in engineering construction is problematic. There is thus a demand for tools to achieve realistic, predictive simulations that are numerically robust when computing complex, coupled load states, are fast enough to calculate geometries of industrial interest, and yield realistic and reliable results without the use of fitting curves.

In our talk industrially relevant numerical implementations of a new and numerically fast material model for shape memory alloys are presented. The material model is based solely on energetic quantities, which thus creates a quite universal approach. In the beginning, a short derivation is given before it is demonstrated how this model can be easily calibrated by means of tension tests. Then, several examples of engineering applications under mechanical and thermal loads are presented to demonstrate the numerical stability and high computation speed of the model. Furthermore, we show how this model is used during real-life industrial product engineering.