Micro–macro analysis of shape memory alloy composites

The aim of the paper is to develop a micro–macro approach for the analysis of the mechanical behavior of composites obtained embedding long fibers of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) into an elastic matrix. In order to determine the overall constitutive response of the SMA composites, two homogenization techniques are proposed: one is based on the self-consistent method while the other on the analysis of a periodic composite. The overall response of the SMA composites is strongly influenced by the pseudo-elastic and shape memory effects occurring in the SMA material. In particular, it is assumed that the phase transformations in the SMA are governed by the wire temperature and by the average stress tensor acting in the fiber. A possible prestrain of the fibers is taken into account in the model.Numerical applications are developed in order to analyze the thermo-mechanical behavior of the SMA composite. The results obtained by the proposed procedures are compared with the ones determined through a micromechanical analysis of a periodic composite performed using suitable finite elements.Then, in order to study the macromechanical response of structural elements made of SMA composites, a three-dimensional finite element is developed implementing at each Gauss point the overall constitutive laws of the SMA composite obtained by the proposed homogenization procedures. Some numerical applications are developed in order to assess the efficiency of the proposed micro–macro model.     

Micromechanical prediction of the two-way shape memory effect in shape memory alloy composites

The two-way shape memory effect in monolithic shape memory alloys has been widely investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In the present study, this effect is analyzed for shape memory alloy composites by employing a micromechanical model. To this end, the responses of polymeric matrix and metal matrix unidirectional composites with embedded shape memory alloy fibers are determined. For the polymeric matrix composite, the effect of axial, transverse and shear loadings as well as the fiber volume fraction on the resulting two-way shape memory behavior are studied. The local distributions of stresses among the shape memory alloy fiber and epoxy matrix in the low- and high-temperature shapes of the composite are also investigated. Two training procedures that generate the two-way shape memory effect in the metal matrix composite are offered. The present analysis shows that the two-way shape memory effect in the chosen type of metal matrix composite is not as useful as in the polymeric matrix one. Finally, for a polymeric matrix composite that is subjected to a transverse normal loading, the effect of imperfect bonding between the shape memory alloy fibers and the neighboring matrix is investigated.     

Local displacements and load transfer in shape memory alloy composites

Although there has been a significant amount of research dedicated to characterizing and modeling the response of shape memory alloys (SMAs) alone, little experimental work has been done to understand the behavior of SMAs embedded in a host material. The interaction between SMA wires and a host polymer matrix was investigated by correlating local displacements and stress fields induced by the embedded wires with SMA/polymer adhesion. Most SMA composite applications require transfer of strain from the wire to the matrix. In these applications, maximum interfacial adhesion between the SMA wire and the polymer matrix is most desirable. The adhesion was varied by considering four different surface treatments: untreated, acid etched, hand sanded and sandblasted. The average interfacial bond strength of the SMA wires embedded in an epoxy matrix was measured by standard pull out tests. Sandblasting significantly increased the bond strength, whereas hand sanding and acid cleaning actually reduced interface strength. In situ displacements of embedded, surface-treated SMA wires were measured using heterodyne interferometry, whereas the resulting stresses induced in the polymer matrix were investigated using photoelasticity. Increased wire adhesion resulted in lower axial wire displacement and higher interfacial stresses due to the restraining effect of the matrix on the actuated wire. A simplified theoretical analysis was carried out to estimate the shear stress induced in the matrix due to wire actuation. The maximum shear stress predicted for the case of a perfect interfacial bond was about 7 percent larger than the value measured experimentally for the sand-blasted wire.     

Hysteresis in magnetic shape memory composites: Modeling and simulation

Magnetic shape memory alloys are characterized by the coupling between the reorientation of structural variants and the rearrangement of magnetic domains. This permits to control the shape change via an external magnetic field, at least in single crystals. Composite materials with single-crystalline particles embedded in a softer matrix have been proposed as a way to overcome the blocking of the reorientation at grain boundaries.We investigate hysteresis phenomena for small NiMnGa single crystals embedded in a polymer matrix for slowly varying magnetic fields. The evolution of the microstructure is studied within the rate-independent variational framework proposed by Mielke and Theil (1999). The underlying variational model incorporates linearized elasticity, micromagnetism, stray field and a dissipation term proportional to the volume swept by the twin boundary. The time discretization is based on an incremental minimization of the sum of energy and dissipation. A backtracking approach is employed to approximately ensure the global minimality condition.We illustrate and discuss the influence of the particle geometry (volume fraction, shape, arrangement) and the polymer elastic parameters on the observed hysteresis and compare with recent experimental results.     

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the interface in activated shape memory alloy composites

The interfacial quality of shape memory alloy (SMA) composites was experimentally evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry, and quantitatively calculated using a combination of Šittner's model and a composite cylinder model. Results have shown that the damage level of the interface in a heating process can be quantitatively evaluated by measuring the transformation enthalpy of the subsequent heating cycle and comparing it with the S-shaped enthalpy kinetic curve. A combination of Šittner's model and a composite cylinder model is capable of calculating both the thermal behavior and the triaxial stress state of SMA composites.     

形状记忆合金结构拓扑优化设计方法研究

形状记忆合金由于其优良的力学特性得到了广泛关注,并形成了一系列具有变革性的创新应用.为了充分提升形状记忆合金结构的力学性能,提出了一种基于实体各向同性材料惩罚模型SIMP (Solid Isotropic Materi-al with Penalization)的形状记忆合金结构拓扑优化方法.基于ZM宏观唯象本构模型,考虑形状记忆合金材料特性,对拓扑优化过程中引入的中间密度材料的奥氏体和马氏体弹性模量以及相变转变应力进行插值.同时,考虑形状记忆合金本身的材料非线性和结构在大变形下的几何非线性效应,以获得准确的力学响应.采用三密度场法来避免最终设计结果出现的棋盘格现象、网格依赖性和大量中间密度单元.利用超单元法来改善由于低密度单元引起的非线性有限元分析过程的数值不稳定问题.利用伴随法对优化模型中的响应函数进行灵敏度分析.最后,通过二维和三维的数值算例验证了本文的优化设计方法,结果表明本文提出的拓扑优化框架能够对预期性能的形状记忆合金结构方案进行求解.     

面向火星探测的环氧形状记忆聚合物复合材料的性能研究

国家火星探测任务是建设航天强国进程中的重大标志性工程,是中国航天走向更远深空的里程碑工程.智能材料这种集材料、结构和功能于一体的先进材料将会对火星探测任务有所助力.形状记忆聚合物及其复合材料作为一种典型的智能材料,可在有效减轻载荷的同时实现自主变形,已经在地球同步轨道航天器的应用中崭露头角.因此有必要研究这种新型环氧基形状记忆聚合物复合材料应用于火星探测工程的可能性.首先,针对“天问一号”火星探测器的任务需求,设计了一个具有自释放功能的着陆平台国旗装置.其中的锁紧释放装置由碳纤维增强的形状记忆聚合物复合材料制成,分别从静态拉伸力学性能、动态热机械性能和形状记忆性能三个角度评估了空间辐照和长期存储对形状记忆聚合物复合材料的影响.其中,空间辐照包括γ射线和紫外射线,辐照剂量分别为5×10⁵ rad和23.6 kCal.长期存储分为低温-196℃、室温25℃和高温85℃存储30天,和低温-196℃存储457天两组实验.最后,从“祝融号”火星车所携带相机拍摄的照片可以看到五星红旗被成功释放,旗面平整、图案清晰.这说明所研究的环氧基形状记忆聚合物复合材料可成功应用于火星探测...     

Phase transitions and thermodynamics for the shape memory alloy AuZn

A model for shape memory alloys described by a intermediate pattern between a first and a second order phase transition is studied. Moreover, by the thermodynamic compatibility of the model, we provide suitable restrictions on the potentials of the Ginzburg-Landau system. Finally, we present numerical simulations of this shape memory model, which are in good agreement with experimental data.     

Shakedown analysis of shape memory alloy structures

Phase transformational shakedown of a structure refers to a status that plastic strains cease developing after a finite number of loading cycles, and subsequently the structure undergoes only elastic deformation and alternating phase transformations with limited magnitudes. Due to the intrinsic complexity in the constitutive relations of shape memory alloys (SMA), there is as yet a lack of effective methods for modeling the mechanical responses of SMA structures, especially when they develop both phase transformation and plastic deformation. This paper is devoted to present an algorithm for analyzing shakedown of SMA structures subjected to cyclic or varying loads within specified domains. Based on the phase transformation and plastic yield criteria of von Mises-type and their associated flow rules, a simplified three-dimensional phenomenological constitutive model is first formulated accounting for different regimes of elastic–plastic deformation and phase transformation. Different responses possible for SMA bodies exposed to varying loads are discussed. The classical Melan shakedown theorem is extended to determine a lower bound of loads for transformational shakedown of SMA bodies without necessity of a step-by-step analysis along the loading history. Finally, a simple example is given to illustrate the application of the present theory as well as some basic features of shakedown of SMA structures. It is interesting to find that phase transformation may either increase or decrease the load-bearing capacity of a structure, depending upon its constitutive relations, geometries and the loading mode.     

An effective interaction potential model for the shape memory alloy AuCd

The unusual properties of shape memory alloys (SMAs) result from a lattice level martensitic transformation (MT) corresponding to an instability of the SMAs crystal structure. Currently, there exists a shortage of material models that can capture the details of lattice level MTs occurring in SMAs and that can be used for efficient computational investigations of the interaction between MTs and larger-scale features found in typical materials. These larger-scale features could include precipitates, dislocation networks, voids, and even cracks. In this article, one such model is developed for the SMA AuCd. The model is based on effective interaction potentials (EIPs). These are atomic interaction potentials that are explicit functions of temperature. In particular, the Morse pair potential is used and its adjustable coefficients are taken to be temperature dependent. An extensive exploration of the Morse pair potential is performed to identify an appropriate functional form for the temperature dependence of the potential parameters. A fitting procedure is developed for the EIPs that matches, at suitable temperatures, the stress-free equilibrium lattice parameters, instantaneous bulk moduli, cohesive energies, thermal expansion coefficients, and heat capacities of FCC Au, HCP Cd, and the B2 cubic austenite phase of the Au-47.5at%Cd alloy. The resulting model is explored using branch-following and bifurcation techniques. A hysteretic temperature-induced MT between the B2 cubic and B19 orthorhombic crystal structures is predicted. This is the behavior that is observed in the real material. In addition to reproducing the important properties mentioned above, the model predicts, to reasonable accuracy, the transformation strain tensor and captures the latent heat and thermal hysteresis to within an order of magnitude.     

Modeling crystallization of a binary alloy

Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 4, pp. 39–45, July–August, 1989.     

形状记忆合金椭圆孔口问题的有限单元法

基于Lagoudas形状记忆合金(SMA)三维本构模型,假设材料为各向同性,推导了SMA平面应力状态的增量型本构方程,继而编写了ABAQUS用户自定义材料(UMAT)子程序,研究了在双向拉伸情况下,外载荷、温度、椭圆孔口长短轴之比对超弹性SMA椭圆孔口板中应力诱发马氏体相变区的影响。数值结果表明:应力诱发马氏体相变首先发生在椭圆孔口长轴端点部位,在外加载荷作用下逐渐扩展到板内,并由内向外形成马氏体相区、相变混合区和奥氏体相区;SMA板内应力诱发马氏体完全相变区面积与施加外载荷成正相关,与温度成负相关;随着椭圆孔口长短轴之比增大,SMA板内应力诱发马氏体完全相变区面积呈现出先减小后增大的趋势;拉应力差值相同时,相较于拉应力沿椭圆孔口长轴方向较大的情况,当拉应力沿椭圆孔口短轴方向较大时,SMA板内完全相变区面积较大,椭圆孔口周边应力集中现象更明显。     

A thermodynamical constitutive model for shape memory materials. Part I. The monolithic shape memory alloy

Pseudoelasticity and the shape memory effect (SME) due to martensitic transformation and reorientation of polycrystalline shape memory alloy (SMA) materials are modeled using a free energy function and a dissipation potential. Three different cases are considered, based on the number of internal state variables in the free energy: (1) austenite plus a variable number of martensite variants; (2) austenite plus two types of martensite; and (3) austenite and one type of martensite. Each model accounts for three-dimensional simultaneous transformation and reorientation. The single-martensite model was chosen for detailed study because of its simplicity and its ease of experimental verification. Closed form equations are derived for the damping capacity and the actuator efficiency of converting heat into work. The first law of thermodynamics is used to demonstrate that significantly more work is required to complete the adiabatic transformation than the isothermal transformation. Also, as the hardening due to the austenite/martensite misfit stresses approaches zero, the transformation approaches the isothermal, infinite specific heat conditions of a first-order transformation. In a second paper, the single-martensite model is used in a mesomechanical derivation of the constitutive equations of an active composite with an SMA phase.     

Modeling cylindrical waves in nonlinear elastic composites

A procedure of deriving nonlinear wave equations that describe the propagation and interaction of hyperelastic cylindrical waves in composite materials modeled by a mixture with two elastic constituents is outlined. Nonlinearity is introduced by metric coefficients, Cauchy-Green strain tensor, and Murnaghan potential. It is the quadratic nonlinearity of all governing relations. For a configuration (state) dependent on the radial coordinate and independent of the angular and axial coordinates, quadratically nonlinear wave equations for stresses are derived and a relationship between the components of the stress tensor and partial strain gradient is established. Four combinations of physical and geometrical nonlinearities in systems of wave equations are examined. Nonlinear wave equations are explicitly written for three of the combinations __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 43, No. 6, pp. 63–72, June 2007.     

Modeling and simulation of magnetic-shape-memory polymer composites

Composites of small magnetic-shape-memory (MSM) particles embedded in a polymer matrix have been proposed as an energy damping mechanism and as actuators. Compared to a single crystal bulk material, the production is simpler and more flexible, as both type of the polymer and geometry of the microstructure can be tuned. Compared to polycrystals, in composites the soft polymer matrix permits the active grains to deform to some extent independently; in particular the rigidity of grain boundaries arising from incompatible orientations is reduced. We study the magnetic-field-induced deformation of composites, on the basis of a continuous model incorporating elasticity and micromagnetism, in a reduced two-dimensional, plane-strain setting. The aim is to give conceptual guidance for the design of composite materials independent of the concrete macroscopic device. Thus, on the background of homogenization theory, we determine the macroscopic behavior by studying an affine-periodic cell problem. An energy descent algorithm is developed, whose main ingredients are a boundary element method for the computation of the elastic and magnetic field energies; and a combinatorial component reflecting the phase transition in the individual particles, which are assumed to be of single-domain type. Our numerical results demonstrate the behavior of the macroscopic material properties for different possible microstructures, and give suggestions for the optimization of the composite.     

Coupling effects in bending problems for beams of a shape memory alloy

Coupling effects of boundary-value problems that arise for shape-memory alloys whose phase compositions depend on the acting stresses and whose elastic moduli change with variation in the fraction of martensite are studied. Algorithms and results of solution of a number of beam bending problems are given. It is established that in coupled problems, the changes in the stress-strain state upon cooling proceed more smoothly than in uncoupled problems. This is due to the propagation of the front of the beginning of the transformation over the cross section. Overload of the outer layers of the beam and unloading of the inner layers of the beam are found to be related to the propagation of the front of completion of the transformation. Moscow State Aviation Institute, Moscow 125871. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 164–173, January–February, 1998.     

Phase transitions in the shape memory alloy CuAlNi

Shape memory alloys exhibit a complex load-deformation temperature behaviour. In CuAlNi different maximal recoverable deformations may be observed in tensile experiments. We have found five phases and their corresponding phase transitions, two of them are reversible and the others exhibit hysteresis. We use a thermodynamic theory to calculate the energy landscape that describes the behaviour of the CuAlNi specimen.Received: 8 March 2004, Accepted: 9 March 2004, Published online: 12 May 2004 Correspondence to: A. Musolff