PSI - Issue 47

Stefano Rodinò et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 47 (2023) 579–588 Carmine Maletta / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

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Fig. 3. Three point bending test.

The final active composite beam prototype was made as an assembly of multiple 3D-Printed parts. All components with relative dimensions are depicted in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Components of the final prototype.

The above assembly strategy was adopted, against a fully embedded design of SMA wires, to overcome technical difficulties linked to overheating of the polymeric layer. In fact, in the adopted solution a novel type of NiTi wire with high temperature silicone sleeve has been used. This type of coating allows excellent thermal insulation and preserves the polymer matrix from damage. Two polymeric materials, among the ones reported in Table 1, were selected to manufacture the final prototype based preliminary tests. The base component in Fig. 4(a) were made of PETG, whereas parts in Fig. 4(b) and 4(c) were made of CFR Nylon. The final prototype is shown in Fig. 5.