Fabrication and Actuation Performance of Selective Laser Melting Additive-Manufactured Active Shape-Memory Alloy Honeycomb Arrays

Abstract

Shape-memory alloy (SMA) honeycomb arrays have drawn worldwide attention for their potential active applications in smart morphing wings. However, the manufacturing of complex active SMA honeycomb arrays via conventional processes is a difficult task, and the actuation performance of the honeycomb arrays has not yet been well–investigated. In this work, the active SMA honeycomb arrays were fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) additive manufacturing, and their actuation performance was investigated. The results show that the SLM–fabricated active SMA honeycomb arrays can generate obvious actuation performance during the transformation and exhibit a higher maximum actuation stress of 2.53 MPa at a R/t ratio of 4 and a tensile pre–strain of 35%. This research will contribute to the design and further improvement of active SMA honeycomb arrays based on SLM additive manufacturing, promoting the engineering applications for smart morphing wings.

Keywords

• smart morphing wings
• additive manufacturing
• shape-memory alloy
• honeycomb arrays
• actuation performance