Woven type smart soft composite beam with in-plane shape retention

Shape memory alloy (SMA) wire embedded composites (SMAECs) are widely used as morphing structures in small-size and high-output systems. However, conventional SMAECs cannot keep deformed shapes without additional energy. In this paper, a new kind of smart structure named the woven type smart soft composite (SSC) beam is introduced, which is not only capable of morphing, but also maintaining its deformed shape without additional energy. The woven type SSC beam consists of two parts: woven wires and matrix. The selected woven wires are nitinol (Ni–Ti) SMA wires and glass fibers, while the matrix part is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). In order to evaluate the performance of the woven type SSC beam in areas such as in-plane deformation, blocking force and repeatability, a beam-shape specimen is prepared of size 100 mm (length) × 8 mm (width) ×3 mm (thickness). The fabricated SSC beam achieved 21 mm deformation and 16 mm shape retention. Blocking force was measured using a dynamometer, and was about 60 mN. In the repeatability test, it recovered almost the same position when its cooling time was 90 s more. Consequently, the woven type SSC beam can be applied to bio-mimicking, soft morphing actuators, consuming less energy than traditional SMAECs.