DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SHAPE

MEMORY ALLOY WIRE LINEAR ACTUATOR

Faculty Guide Presented by
Dr.P. Radhakrishnan Sivasankar M
12MI36
OBJECTIVE
In my project the focus is to design a shape memory alloy wire
for the linear actuator and to develop the prototype of the
actuator model.
INTRODUCTION
Smart materials for the engineering applications.
This advances in technology reduces the size of the component
in compact reliable.
Shape memory alloy is more versatile with other conventional
actuation.
The most common shape memory is an alloy of nickel and
titanium called Nitinol.
A shape memory element can be actuated thermally or
electrically.
SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY
Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are smart materials that
respond with a change in shape, in other words recovery
of strain to change in external thermomechanical
conditions. The material exhibits two unique properties.
Shape memory effect the ability of SMAs to be
severely deformed and returned to their shape simply by
heating them.
Superelasticity or pseudoelasticity.

SHAPE MEMORY EFFECT
If a mechanical load is applied to the material in the twinned
martensite phase, it is possible to detwin the martensite by
reorienting a certain number of variants.
The detwinning process results in a macroscopic shape chage,
where the deformed configuration is retained when the load is
released.
A subsequent heating of the SMA to temperature above Af will
result in a reverse phase transformation and will lead to shape
recovery.
SHAPE MEMORY EFFECT OF SMAs UNDER
THE APPLICATION OF LOAD
DESIGN OF SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY WIRE ACTUATOR
In our configuration the SMA wire works against a constant force.
If a dead weight is suspended by a shape memory wire, at low
temperature the wire will be deformed to a length L1.
When the wire is heated above the Af temperature it recovers to
length L2.
COMPUTATION ALGORITHM
The most important relations involved for the SMA wire actuator design
are:
Wire Diameter:


where, G = weight, in [N]
= maximum design stress at high temperature, in [MPa]

High temperature strain:

Where E
h
is the value of the youngs modulus for the material at high
temperature, in [MPa];



Required (free) length:
Where is the low temperature strain.
The length increment needed at A
f
temperature to
produce the force G:
Length increment = L
f
[mm]
High temperature length:
L
h
= L
f
+ Length increment [mm]
Low temperature length:
L
l
= L
h
+ stroke [mm]


[mm]
Low temperature stress:
Where E
1
is the value of the youngs modulus for the
material at low temperature, in [MPa]
Reset force:
R = [N]

[MPa]
For design calculations, wire diameter and length are found by
constraining the maximum tensile stress (at high temperature) and
strain ( at low temperature) .

SMA Wire Design:
Wire Diameter [mm] = 0.5
Low temperature tensile stress [MPa] = 138
Required length [mm] = 60


Biasing Spring Design:
Bias rate:
K
b
= (F
h
F
l
)/ Stroke [N/mm]
F
h
= Force exerted by the biasing spring at hight
temperature
F
l
= Force exerted by the biasing spring at low temperature

Bias Wire Diameter:
d
b
= [mm]

D
b
= Average bias spring diameter
T= Maximum bias shear stress
Number of bias active turns:
n =

G = steel spring shear modulus.

Using standard steel spring design procedure,
assume that the maximum shear stress for the
wire is T = 675MPa. The bias spring shear
modulus is G = 79300 MPa.

Parameter Value
Number of Active Coils, n 4
Diameter of Wire, d 0.5mm
Mean Diameter of the Spring, D 9mm
Optimized Parameter of the Biased Spring
DESIGN APPROACH

The design and develop the prototype of the SMA wire linear
actuator.
This prototype mechanism utilizes SMA wire to actuate a
high force.
It is self-resetable using a bias return spring.
The current heats the wire directly via resistance in the wire.
Through a strain recovery process in the material, the wire
contracts when heated and returns when cooled using the
compression bias spring.
ASSEMBLED MODEL
FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE
SMA ACTUATOR
Force Deflection characteristics of the SMA wire.
An experiment was conducted to plot the force-deflection
characteristics of SMA Wire to determine the maximum force
and deflection that can be obtained from the wire. The
experimental setup is illustrated.

FORCE DEFLECTION CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
0.5MM DIA SMA WIRE
Current (Amps) Temp(C) Stroke (mm) Load (N)
3 65 18 5
3 65 10 10
3 65 3 20
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0 5 10 15 20 25
D
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
o
n
(
m
m
)

Force(N)
Force-Deflection
Force-Deflection
TEMPERATURE -DEFLECTION
CHARACTERISTICS
The deflection of the SMA Wire at various temperatures is an
important factor in the design of the actuator since it depicts the
actuation of the actuator. The SMA spring actuator is actuated
by passing electric voltage through the wire. The deflection at
various temperatures were noted.

The deflection of the SMA wire at various temperatures were
experimentally determined with the setup as shown.
TEMPERATURE DEFLECTION
CHARACTERISTICS OF 0.5MM DIA SMA WIRE
Current(Amps) Temperature(C) Deflection(mm)
1 40 5
2 50 10
3 60 13
4 70 16
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
D
e
f
l
e
c
t
i
o
n
(
m
m
)

Temperature(C)
Temperature-Deflection
Temperature-Deflection
HEATING AND COOLING TIME OF THE SMA
WIRE
The thermodynamics of the heating and cooling cycles is a critical point in the
design, both for the power consumption and for the frequency of the activation
cycles. Hence, the heat transfer is considered to be determined by the heat transfer
coefficient. The heat transfer coefficient of the SMA wire is calculated using the
equation given below:

Where,

h Heat transfer coefficient (W/mm
2

0
C)
I Input current (A)
Resistivity of the SMA wire (ohm-mm)
r Radius of the SMA wire (mm)
T Target temperature (
0
C)
Ta Ambient temperature (
0
C)

) (
3 2
2
2
a
T T r
I
h

Cont.
Condition
Current
(A)
HTC
(W/mm
2

0
C)
Power
(Watts)
Heating Time(s)
Cooling
Time(s)
1 4 3.80E-04 2.38 7 8.2
DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETER
TEST
The DSC test was carried out to determine the austenite finish
temperature of the SMA material that was used to fabricate the
SMA actuator.


PROTOTYPE OF THE ACTUATOR
The prototype of the SMA wire linear actuator has been
fabricated as per the design concept.
CONCLUSION
The current work dealt with the design and development of a
SMA wire linear actuator.
The maximum force-deflection required by the SMA wire to be
actuated is found.
The Temperature-Deflection characteristics of the SMA wire is
determined.
The Heating and cooling time of the SMA wire used in the
actuator is found.
The final Prototype of the actuator model has been fabricated.
FUTURE WORK
The primary research can be in the reduction of the actuation
time of the actuator and increase the frequency of operation of
the actuator.
Proper heating and cooling methods can be introduced in the
actuator to control the actuation time of the actuator.
In order to achieve this, electronic control of the valve can be
introduced to prevent the overheating of the actuator.
These parameters improvement may leads to the prototype of
the actuator into the final product.

REFERENCES
[1] Sonia DEGERATU, Horia O. MANOLEA, Nicu G. BIZDOAC, Gheorghe
MANOLEA, Anca PETRIOR, 2009, Characterization And Design Of A
Shape Memory Alloy Wire Actuator, 7th International Conference On
Electromechanical And Power Systems.

[2] Sonia Degeratu, Nicu G. Bizdoaca, Gheorghe Manolea, Ilie Diaconu, Anca
Petrisor, Vasile Degeratu,2008, On the Design of a Shape Memory Alloy
Spring Actuator Using Thermal Analysis , WSEAS Transactions on Systems,
Vol. 7, pp. 1006-1015.

[3] Adelaide Nespoli, Stefano Besseghini, Simone Pittaccio, Elena Villa, Stefano
Viscuso, 2010, The high potential of shape memory alloys in developing
miniature mechanical devices: A review on shape memory alloy mini-
actuators, Sensors and Actuators A, Vol. 158, pp. 149-160.