A Toolbox for Selecting the Best Binary NiTi Actuator for Specific Applications

Design engineers are often faced with the challenge of balancing performance tradeoffs when choosing a NiTi Actuator for a specific application. Often, compromises of one important property must be made to accommodate another requirement of the device. Because there are so many factors influencing performance, choosing the actuator that possesses the best combination of properties for a specific application can prove difficult. This paper will provide a toolbox to assist the design engineer in navigating the tradeoffs when selecting actuator wire properties balanced best for their application. In the paper, NiTi Actuators ranging in activation temperature from 50ºC to 90ºC are characterized and the relationships between pull force, stroke, environmental temperature, durability, and power consumption are discussed.