Investigation of buckling behavior of carbon nanotube/shape memory polymer composite shell

Shape memory polymer(SMP) is a class of smart materials used in intelligent biomedical devices and industrial application as sensors or actuators for their ability to change shape under a predetermined stimulus. Carbon nanotube (CNT)/shape memory polymer (SMP) composites demonstrate good mechanical properties and shape memory effect. In this work, a model of CNT/SMP composite shell with a vaulted cross-section was established. This composite shell structure could further elevate the recovery stress of CNT/SMP composites. The folding properties of CNT/SMP composite shell structure were analyzed by finite element method., Furthermore, the energy conservation principle were used to study the influence of structural parameters on the buckling behavior of the shell. The results indicate that vaulted cross-section shell had unique mechanical properties. The structural parameters, such as the vaulted radius and the total length have a great impact on buckling moment of the shell. This shell structure is expected to achieve effective control of buckling and deploying process, relying on the special shape memory property of SMP and high elastic modulus CNTs. Moreover, it could also largely avoid the vibration problem during the deploying process.