Thermomechanical behavior of shape memory polymer beams reinforced by corrugated polymeric sections

With the ever-increasing applications of smart actuators, great attention is drawn to the SMP-based composites. In this paper the flexural behavior of corrugated SMP composite beams is studied. Employing a widely-accepted one-dimensional SMP model, based on the assumptions of Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the governing equations are obtained. Further using a finite difference scheme the equations are solved. In this regard, different types of corrugated sections (rectangular, sinusoidal, aEuro broken vertical bar) with equal SMP content are studied and the mechanical properties of interest (load capacity, shape fixity, aEuro broken vertical bar) are compared. It is observed that reinforced single-cell patterns have completely different mechanical behaviors. For the sake of generality, the single-cell reinforced composite sections are studied in detail. Numerical results show an increase in load capacity of the structure. However, like any other reinforcing method, an inevitable small decrease in shape fixity is observed. In addition to the properties studied here, other desirable characteristics can be achieved by introducing a reinforcing cover. The results can be utilized in designing SMP-based actuators since the present work proposes a simple and efficient method for enhancing the load capacity of the SMP-based composites.